The security alliance the EU and Japan need now

They both fret about a world without the US security umbrella. They can ease their fears by moving closer to each other.

- Lionel Laurent and Gearoid Reidy

Japan and the European Union have much in common. They're two iconic symbols of US-led reconstruction, pacification and democratization after World War II. Their global rise in the subsequent decades came from outmanufacturing, not outgunning, rivals.

They've both been nervously watching security threats mass on their border in the shapes of Russia and China. And now they're contemplating the risk of US strategic abandonment after a lifetime of reliance on Washington's security umbrella.

That common pressure is prompting a renewed search for deeper strategic ties. In November, just a few days before Mr Donald Trump's presidential election, Tokyo and Brussels concluded the EU-Japan Security and Defence Partnership, affirming their commitment to a "free and open international order based on the rule of law". It laid out several areas of future cooperation, from maritime security and counter-terrorism to space and defence expertise. It showed a lot of aspiration, yet not a lot of urgency.