LectureWednesday 5 October 2016
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Japan-UK Collaboration in the Asia-Pacific Region: The Defence Capacity Building Assistance Programme
Drinks reception: 7:00pm – 8:00pm
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
This January, Japan and United Kingdom Defence Ministers agreed to collaborate to support capacity building assistance in Southeast Asia. The Capacity Building Assistance Programme is the newest pillar of collaboration between our two countries.
In today’s world, no single country can secure its own peace and security independently, and the international community needs to address global issues in concert. Through its Capacity Building Assistance Programme, Japan’s Ministry of Defence, utilising the Japan Self Defence Forces’ capabilities, seeks to enable partner countries’ efforts to contribute to the maintenance and improvement of the global security environment.
Director Mitsuko Hayashi and Captain Charles Ashcroft will provide an overview of the Capacity Building Assistance Programme and explore current activities and collaboration with partner countries.
About the contributors
Mitsuko Hayashi
Mitsuko Hayashi assumed the role of Director for International Affairs at the Ministry of Defence in October 2015. She is responsible for international defence cooperation, particularly in the fields of capacity building cooperation and high-level exchanges. Ms Hayashi’s career in the Ministry of Defence has predominantly focused on defence policy-making. She worked for Japan-US security alliance negotiation under both LDP and DPJ administrations and has worked on a number of bilateral defence relationships, including Australia, the United Kingdom, China and ASEAN countries. From 2011 to 2014 she served as the Defence Counsellor at the Embassy of Japan in London. Prior to her current role Ms Hayashi worked as the Director for Parliamentary Affairs in the Ministry. Ms Hayashi graduated from the Law Faculty of Tokyo University and obtained an MSc with Distinction in Diplomacy and International Strategy at the London School of Economics. She was a Visiting Fellow to the Changing Character of War programme at the University of Oxford in 2014.
Captain Charles Ashcroft
Captain Charles Ashcroft is an officer in the Royal Navy and has just finished a three-year term as Defence Attaché at the British Embassy in Tokyo. As well as spending time commanding ships and naval helicopters, he has worked in defence policy planning, assisted with teaching Strategic Studies at Oxford University and has advised the US Central Command. Before his last posting in Japan, he had also served as Defence Attaché in New Delhi.