Japanese, German leaders vow cooperation on Ukraine and raw materials

March 18 (UPI) -- The leaders of Japan and Germany on Saturday agreed to continue their sanctions on Russia, provide assistance for Ukraine and cooperate on critical raw materials.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met in Tokyo and discussed the war, finance, transportation and other issues for about 50 minutes.

"The international community is facing a time of great change and Japan and Germany need to cooperate even more closely than before to maintain and strengthen the free and open global order based on the rule of law," Kishida told reporters after the meeting.

Scholz said that the two sides agreed establish a legal framework for defense and security cooperation while also declaring Russia's nuclear weapons threats to be intolerable.

The leaders also announced they will collaborate on critical mineral supply and the procurement of raw materials as China has become the dominant supplier of many commodities.

The agreement comes in the wake of a new national security strategy published in December by Kishida's government vowing to lessen the country's dependence on specific nations for such materials.

Continuing the theme of security, Kishida said the the two nations will work together on ways to protect against attacks on critical infrastructures and cyberattacks.