Washington, July 3 (IANS) The United States and Japan agreed to deepen cooperation on cyber security following two days of talks in Washington, committing to expand intelligence sharing, strengthen protection of critical infrastructure, combat cybercrime across the Indo-Pacific and accelerate adoption of post-quantum cryptography.
The commitments were announced in a joint statement issued after the 11th US-Japan Cyber Dialogue, held in Washington on June 30 and July 1.
The United States hosted the meeting, which was co-chaired by the Department of State’s Bureau of Emerging Threats and the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Cybersecurity Office co-chaired the talks for Tokyo.
The US delegation included officials from the White House National Security Council staff, the Office of the National Cyber Director, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of War, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Federal Communications Commission.
Japan’s delegation included representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Defence, the National Police Agency and the Public Security Intelligence Agency.
In the joint statement, the two countries said they “reaffirmed their shared commitment to addressing threats in cyberspace directly.”
They also said both sides deepened bilateral security cooperation in cyberspace and the strength of the US-Japan alliance by agreeing to leverage emerging technologies, strengthen information-sharing and improve interoperability.
Among the commitments, the two governments agreed to “leverage new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and advance secure and sovereign cloud infrastructure built on trusted technology to deepen information-sharing and interoperability.”
They also pledged to “exchange cyber threat information and assessments of sophisticated state and non-state cyber actors, including threats to critical infrastructure and the growing role of AI, to counter malicious cyber activities.”
The two sides agreed to align international cyber policies and share their respective national cyber strategies.
The statement also said the United States and Japan would “combat cybercrime and scam centers in the Indo-Pacific region through law enforcement action, international diplomacy, and coordinated engagement with the private sector as appropriate.”
The two countries further committed to “coordinate technical assistance for cyber resilience and defense in third countries across the Indo-Pacific region.”
They also agreed to “collaborate to accelerate Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) adoption domestically.”
The statement said the United States and Japan committed to continued close coordination on cyber policy, operations, technical assistance and engagement with the private sector. It added that follow-on consultations would be held to advance the priorities identified during the dialogue.
–IANS
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