Japan and Vietnam consider new pact to prevent crimes

The Japanese and Vietnamese governments are considering concluding a new pact allowing them to mutually provide information on each other’s nationals arrested or detained in their own countries, sources have said.

The planned pact is aimed at strengthening deterrence amid an increase in the number of crimes committed by Vietnamese nationals in Japan.

During their meeting on Monday next week, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam, also president of the Southeast Asian nation, are expected to confirm the plan to conclude the new pact, Japanese government sources said. The Vietnamese leader is slated to visit Japan for four days from Sunday.

When they met in Hanoi in May, the two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation over consular affairs.

Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, reporting the arrest or detention of a foreigner to his or her home country requires the consent of the individual in principle.

Japan and Vietnam are considering allowing such reporting without the consent of arrested or detained individuals under the envisaged pact, according to the sources.

“As Vietnam has strong public security authorities, reporting the arrest or detention swiftly will be a major deterrent,” a Japanese official said.

While details, such as the types of incidents subject to such reporting, will be discussed in the future, it will take at least two or three years before the pact takes effects because it concerns human rights.

According to the National Police Agency, police took action against 10,773 cases involving Vietnamese nationals, excluding permanent residents in Japan, in 2025, up about 11% from the preceding year. The figure accounted for more than 40% all such cases involving foreigners.

Japan has so far signed a similar reporting pact or treaty with the United States, Britain China and the former Soviet Union.

The Japan-Soviet consular affairs treaty and related protocols stipulate the right to seek reporting within three days of arrest or detention and meetings between arrested or detained individuals and consuls within four days.

Based on the treaty and protocols, the Japanese government requested an early consular meeting for a Japanese reporter for the Hokkaido Shimbun, a daily newspaper in the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, who was detained by Russian authorities on Oct. 13 on suspicion of espionage.