The UK and Japan have wound up their first military exercise in three years as commanders warn of “sharp destabilisation” in the security environment caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and an increasingly assertive China.The nine-day training operation to strengthen island defence, dubbed “Vigilant Isles 22”, is the latest sign of deepening defence ties between the two US allies in the Indo-Pacific.
Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force and the British army practised taking back an island seized by enemy forces in exercises at a military camp in Gunma, central Japan, and an air-to-ground range in Aomori in the north.
While Japanese and UK officials said the exercise did not target a specific country or island, the training took place as tensions mounted over Taiwan, particularly after China conducted large-scale military drills to protest US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August.