Poland–Japan defence pact

Poland and Japan raised their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership on April 15, adding a new security track to ties that had already been widening. (mofa.go.jp) Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the upgrade at a summit in Tokyo. Japan’s foreign ministry said the two leaders also agreed to intensify security cooperation and discuss a framework for information security. (mofa.go.jp) The move builds on a 2025-2029 action plan signed by Foreign Ministers Radosław Sikorski and Takeshi Iwaya on February 28, 2025. Poland’s foreign ministry said that plan covered policy, security, defence, economy, science, technology and culture, and included talks on classified information and defence industry cooperation. (gov.pl) The defence angle has come into sharper focus as Warsaw and Tokyo both try to fill gaps in weapons supply and military technology. Reuters reported on April 15 that Polish and Japanese officials were discussing cooperation in anti-drone systems and electronic warfare, which uses sensors and radio signals to detect, jam or mislead enemy systems. (defensenews.com) That conversation sits inside a wider shift in both regions. In their joint statement, Takaichi and Tusk said security in Europe and the Indo-Pacific is “inseparable” and tied the partnership to support for Ukraine, concern over North Korea-Russia military cooperation and opposition to changing borders by force. (mofa.go.jp) Poland has been pushing this track for more than a year. In Warsaw on January 8, 2024, Sikorski and then-Japanese Foreign Minister Yōko Kamikawa said security and defence were major areas of cooperation, and in Tokyo in February 2025 Sikorski also met Defence Minister Gen Nakatani for talks on bilateral defence and security. (gov.pl 1) (gov.pl 2) Japan has its own reason to move faster. Reuters reported that Tokyo was preparing to ease arms export rules as soon as April 2026, with Japanese officials and executives saying demand from partners was rising as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East strained United States weapons supply and allies looked to diversify. (defensenews.com) Economic ties already give the partnership a base beyond defence. Japan’s foreign ministry said about 400 branches of Japanese companies operate in Poland, and the April 15 summit also produced a social security agreement meant to make cross-border business easier. (mofa.go.jp) The next test is whether the new label produces concrete defence projects rather than another framework document. For now, the April 15 summit put Warsaw and Tokyo on record that economy and security will move together in the next phase of the relationship. (mofa.go.jp)