Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will visit Washington from July 10 to attend a NATO summit. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Japan and NATO have begun talks to establish a framework to counter a growing barrage of disinformation that threatens to undermine their security cooperation.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida aims to reach an agreement at the NATO summit to be held in Washington from July 9 to 11, according to multiple government officials.

For the third consecutive year, Kishida has accepted an invitation to attend alongside the leaders of South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Countering false information forms part of a broader cooperation strategy between Japan and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In the Individually Tailored Partnership Program between NATO and Japan signed last year, countering hostile information was among 16 priority areas for cooperation, including arms control and nonproliferation, cyber defense and space security.

In recent years, disinformation strategies have become increasingly assertive, with false information spread through social media to sow confusion among adversaries.

Experts have pointed out that such tactics could even sway the outcome of battles, prompting Japan and NATO to join forces to counter the threat.

For instance, when it was falsely claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had fled the country after Russian forces rolled across the border in 2022, Zelensky responded by releasing a video from Kyiv, declaring, “We are here,” and reaffirming his resolve to resist.

Japan and NATO also agree on the need to strengthen the way they share classified information.

For Japan, strengthening ties with NATO is a crucial part of its security policy in the face of China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

(This article was written by Anri Takahashi and Keishi Nishimura.)

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