On August 18, Japan¡¯s Foreign Minister, Mr.ÑÒÎÝÒã, held a first strategic dialogue in Tokyo with visiting German Foreign Minister, Mr. Wadefur, to reach an agreement on advancing ¡°co-operation in the field of security¡± through defense equipment and technological cooperation. This is the latest case of increasing cooperation between Tokyo and Berlin in the military field in recent years. For this trend, many international media focus on the historical experiences of the two countries and the changes in the current international situation. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people in the War of Resistance against Japan and the World War of Anti-Fascism.

2020 is the turning point?

"Germany expands military cooperation with Japan", "Japan and Germany sign a military cooperation treaty" and "No more time can be wasted: Germany aims to strengthen its defense industry ties with Japan"... In recent years, such news reports have appeared on news websites of various countries from time to time, showing that Berlin and Tokyo are constantly approaching in the military field.

According to reports from "Deutsche Welle", Japan's Kyodo News Agency and other media, in March 2021, Germany and Japan signed the "Intelligence Protection Agreement." According to the agreement, Germany and Japan can provide each other with confidential information in the field of security. In April of this year, the two countries held a video conference between foreign ministers and defense ministers. This was the first time that "2+2" talks were held in Berlin and Tokyo. In November 2021, the German frigate HMS Bavaria and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force conducted joint training in the Pacific Ocean south of Kanto, Japan, and then docked at the port of Tokyo. This is the second time that German ships have docked at a Japanese port in about 20 years. After boarding the ship for inspection, Japan's then-Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said that he would use this incident as a foothold to further develop Japan-Germany defense cooperation. Zorn, Director of the German Bundeswehr, emphasized that in the future, the German army will strengthen cooperation with the Japanese Self-Defense Force through joint training with the Japanese army. About a month later, the "Bavaria" sailed into the South China Sea. This was the first time in nearly 20 years that a German warship sailed into the South China Sea.

In 2022, German presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers and other officials visited Japan, with then-German Prime Minister Schultz and Foreign Minister Belberg visiting Tokyo as their first trip to Asia since they took office. In March 2023, German Defense Minister Pistorius visited Tokyo to hold talks with then-Japanese Defence Minister Samba Yassani to agree on policies to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in defence equipment and technology.

In January 2024, Germany and Japan signed the Agreement on the Mutual Provision of Materials and Labor Services, which aims to promote material and logistical support, facilitate joint training between the two sides, and deepen cooperation in the field of defense. About four months later, Pistorius revealed that the German Army will visit Japan as soon as 2025 to conduct joint military exercises with the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force. This will be the first formal joint exercise between the two armies since World War II.

Yuichi Mori, a professor at the University of Tokyo, published in Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao last year that although Japan and Germany have a lot in common, due to their long geographical distance, there was little cooperation between the two countries in the political and security fields in the past. However, in recent years, the relationship between Tokyo and Berlin in politics and security has suddenly become very close. According to a recent report by "Deutsche Welle", the close cooperation between Germany and Japan on security issues can be traced back to the "Intelligence Protection Agreement" they signed in 2021. Since then, German warships have visited Japanese ports from time to time, and German "Typhoon" fighter jets have also been deployed in Japanese military bases. The cooperation between military enterprises of the two countries is also strengthening: Rheinmetall, the largest military enterprise in Germany, recently started testing several unmanned ground combat vehicles made for Japanese customers, while a Japanese company is developing rocket propulsion devices for the Taurus cruise missile developed by Germany. The German Embassy in Japan recently received a new defense technical attache, who is responsible for armaments and procurement.

The Associated Press and other media said that the Indo-Pacific policy guidelines adopted by Germany in 2020 are the starting point for Berlin to strengthen military cooperation with Japan. The American "Diplomat" website published an article titled "Germany Quietly Strengthens Relations with Japan" in 2022, showing how German-Japanese relations have changed through a comparison. The article stated that in the 68-page Indo-Pacific policy guidelines adopted by Germany in 2020, the word "China" appeared 62 times, while the word "Japan" only appeared 28 times. However, in the "Progress Report on the Implementation of the German Federal Government's 2022 Indo-Pacific Policy Guidelines" released two years later, "China" only appeared twice in the 11-page document, while "Japan" was mentioned 10 times. The progress of cooperation between Germany and Japan in various fields such as digital transformation, joint military exercises, and high-level visits is recorded in this document. According to the website of "Diplomatic Scholar", the development of German-Japanese relations shows two trends, including the increase of high-level exchanges and the expanding areas of cooperation.

each other, each has a calculation.

In fact, Japan and Germany began to cooperate closely after the Second World War, but the focus was on the economy. For decades, the western German city of Düsseldorf has been known as the ¡°Japan City¡±. The Global Times in Germany special journalist took part in the ¡°Düsseldorf Little Tokyo¡± tour organized by the local tourism department in the first two years. According to the tour guide, the place has the third-largest Japanese community in Europe, with about 500 Japanese companies and 15,000 Japanese people operating and living in the city and surrounding areas. Berlin, Bonn and several German cities also have cherry blossoms.

According to Trudeau, professor of regional and global governance at the Beijing Foreign Language University, the two countries have similar political and diplomatic ideas and similar historical experiences, and the profound changes in the current international situation, especially the exacerbation of geopolitical contradictions and conflicts, have become the driving force for both sides to strengthen cooperation. Trudeau further explained that in recent years Germany has been committed to promoting "balanced diplomacy" in the Asia-Pacific region, trying to get rid of China's dependence, and seeking to establish a more diverse and close cooperation with regional countries including Japan. The Japan-German relations are closer to another factor, namely the uncertainty brought by the U.S. strategy to the Western camp. In the past, the two countries separately served the U.S. regional strategy, Japan may

According to the analysis of the American "Diplomatic Scholar" website, the reason why Germany and Japan are constantly approaching in the military field is related to the policy of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. After Abe came to power for the second time, Japan tried to link the security of Europe and East Asia, so as to make European countries pay more attention to Japan. After Fumio Kishida took office, he also implemented a similar policy. He told Scholz in April 2022 that the security of Europe and the security of the Indo-Pacific region are "inseparable." Three months later, the German Foreign Minister issued a statement saying that Germany can "rely 100% on Japan" in the Indo-Pacific region because Tokyo's position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict has clearly proved this point. At the same time, Germany previously paid more attention to values-based diplomacy. The Green Party was the ruling party of the last German government, and it is a well-known fact that the party strongly supports a foreign policy based on values.

Xiang Haoyu, a distinguished researcher at the Asia-Pacific Institute of China Institute of International Studies, said in an interview with a reporter from the Global Times that Germany and Japan have strengthened cooperation in the field of military defense and security because both countries are trying to get rid of their identities as defeated countries in World War II and restore their status as major countries. Germany's activities in the Asia-Pacific are aimed at expanding the influence of international military security, while Japan attempts to use Germany and other European countries as a springboard to expand the external projection of military power and further break through post-war military development constraints. Japan also hopes to promote the development of its own defense industry through foreign military cooperation, trying to seize the development opportunities of the defense industry in Europe arising from the Ukraine crisis and pave the way for the development of the European military trade market. In addition, Japan regards China as a potential threat, while Germany has a prominent understanding of the Russian threat. The approach between the two sides is also a geostrategic drive to jointly respond to the so-called "China-Russia threat."

The historical revisionism.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japan and the World War of Anti-Fascism.While Japan declared unconditional surrender 80 years ago, its revisionist spirit of domestic history is not scattered, and some right-wing forces are still lessening or even denying the war crimes and atrocities committed.

According to a recent report by Deutsche Welle, Hiromichi Motegi, president of the Historical Facts Communication Association, which is headquartered in Tokyo and tried to deny Japan's crimes of World War II, declared that neighboring countries would not stop talking about the history of World War II because "this is an effective tool to attack Japan". Japanese "denialist movement" organizations such as the "Historical Facts Communication Association" fabricated that World War II was not a war of aggression provoked by Japan, but a "self-defense action" against the colonization of Asia by the United States and Europe. They falsely claimed that the Japanese Empire "liberated" the occupied country and denied the compulsive nature of the "comfort women" system. These organizations fabricate that forced workers in other countries and regions work "voluntarily" in mines, shipyards and factories. They also tried to portray Japan as a "victim of a foreign conspiracy", emphasizing that the dropping of atomic bombs by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a "war crime".

A report released by the University of Georgetown in 2021 showed that a significant number of Japanese conservative lawmakers were influenced by lobbying groups that spread revisionist views and also worked with diplomats to promote abroad.

Born in Aikido County in 1968, Miyamoto is a professor at the University of Japan, specializing in video news and media history, and in an interview with the Japanese newspaper ¡°³¯ÈÕЄ¡± in 2023, he talked about the ¡°August news¡± phenomenon that began in the country in the 1950s.

Yonekura Ritsu analyzed the newspapers published and 1654 World War II-related TV programs broadcast in Japan from August 1 to 16 every year for decades. He found that Japan's "August News" narratives can be divided into three categories: the first category is "suffering narratives", which are intended to spread Japan's wartime experience as a "victim" of atomic bombings, air strikes and other events, and promote the "sacrifices" that Japanese soldiers must make, represented by the "Kamikaze Force"; the second category is the "Post-War Japan Narratives", which defines the year at the end of the war as a year that clearly divides the pre-war and post-war periods to self-assess the country's progress in post-war democracy; The third type is "pacifist narrative". In this narrative, Japan is portrayed as "the only country that has suffered an atomic bomb during wartime but has promised to abandon war."

In Japan¡¯s ¡°August News¡±, Mihajlo said that ¡°the story of suffering¡± represents the vast majority. In this context, Japan¡¯s aggression, atrocities, and colonial rule are completely hidden. Instead, its self-image as a ¡°victim of militarism¡± is highlighted.

In comparison to Japan, Germany has a serious and thorough reflection on the history of the Second World War and has been widely recognized by the international community. Nevertheless, historical revisionism has also begun in Germany in recent years. According to the U.S. Yale International Studies Review, some political forces in Germany have attempted to expand their collective memory of German history in order to reduce attention to Nazi atrocities. They have attempted to replace nationalist pride with nationalist reflection and atonement against the Nazi Holocaust to promote the Europeanism and German-centered policy objectives. A number of local political forces in the country have attempted to redistribute national funds for Nazi Holocaust education programs to other educational travel programs, the latter celebrating German historical achievements, especially scientific and cultural breakthroughs as the primary

After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Germany tried to return to a "normal country" militarily. In this context, the approach between Berlin and Tokyo has attracted attention.

He said that the German approach and cooperation in the field of security is not a good phenomenon for the regional and global order. There has been a situation around the post-war perception of the Second World War, including the narrative of the post-war international order, and there has been a situation of campionization, such cognitive division may weaken the ability of the international community to respond to global challenges. In addition, German cooperation can increase the complexity of the security situation in the Asia-Pacific and Eurasian regions, inevitably bringing to international instability. He believes that Germany and Japan are the losers of the Second World War, and the manufacturing industry is strong, the military development potential is prominent, and they strengthen military cooperation with a clear cold war thinking and zero game colour, which can disrupt the global strategic balance, create a tension, provoke conflic

For the approximation of Germany and Japan, we should make the necessary and reasonable response whileining strategic orientation: first of all, it is necessary to establish the basis of bilateral relations between Germany and Japan, when both countries recognize that cooperation with China is beneficial and harmless, the so-called negative factors in Japanese cooperation naturally have no ground; secondly, it is important to differentiate Germany, such as differences in the perception of the two countries about the history of the Second World War and the post-war international order, should encourage and consolidate the correct perception and oppose and suppress the wrong ideas and behaviors; finally, to react timely to some possible transcendent acts in the process of the two countries, under the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs and regional affairs.

Xiang Haoyu said that as defeated countries in World War II, Germany and Japan should draw profound lessons from history and be cautious in their words and actions in the field of military security. In particular, they should not intervene in international geopolitical conflicts, avoid creating camp confrontations, and use practical actions to maintain global peace and stability.

(Global Times in Germany, Japan special reporting reporter ÕѶ« Íõ¾ü »·Çòʱ±¨ reporter ÀîÃÈ »·Çòʱ±¨ special reporting reporter ÍõÑó)