Japan’s Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada will visit China in the middle of this month to discuss North Korea’s apparent preparations to launch a ballistic missile.

Japanese broadcaster NHK said Friday that Hamada will visit China on March 20th for extensive discussions with Defense Minister Liang Guanglie.

Hamada is also expected to seek ways to share data with China as Japan is set to dispatch naval ships to Somalia to combat piracy.

In particular, Hamada is expected to express concerns over China’s recent moves to reinforce its armament and to ask China to secure transparency in its military.