Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed on Friday to enhance security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, where China is increasing its military presence.

During their talks in Berlin, Kishida and Scholz also affirmed that their countries will establish a framework for economic security amid what they consider China's excessive production of electric vehicles and other key products using massive subsidies, according to a statement issued by the Japanese Foreign Ministry and reported today by the Kyodo News Agency.

As part of efforts to accelerate bilateral cooperation, the leaders agreed to hold high-level government talks in Germany, possibly next year, to address a wide range of global and regional issues.

Kishida and Scholz reiterated that the defense and foreign ministers of both countries will hold "2+2" security talks in Japan soon. The first meeting of this kind was held virtually in 2021.

Kishida traveled to Germany after attending the NATO summit in Washington. In a speech during the meeting, he expressed "serious concerns" about the deep military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.