Christopher Pyne: New agreement with Japan a historic step for Australia in South-East Asia

A new agreement places Japan as our most important military partner outside the “Five Eyes” countries – but you may have missed it, writes Christopher Pyne.

A monumental announcement was made by the Australian government last week that did not get the attention it deserved.

The media was full of stories about the virus that dare not speak its name.

The preoccupation with announcing the numbers of confirmed Covid cases, to what end is beyond me, jostled with reporting of the even less relevant anniversary of the January 6 riots on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.

No, the big story last week was the signing of the reciprocal access agreement (RAA) between Japan and Australia. It’s historic.

The RAA is a serious military agreement. It is only the second such agreement that Japan has signed with any nation. The first was with the United States of America in 1960.

For Australia, it clearly places Japan as our most important military partner outside the Five Eyes countries of the UK, US, Canada and New Zealand.

Our relationship with Singapore would be a close second to Japan after the signing of the RAA.

The RAA allows Australian and Japanese military personnel to operate in each other’s sovereign territory with a freedom and with protections not afforded nations without such an agreement. It will lead to more serious military exercises between Australia, Japan and the US.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison attend a video signing ceremony of the bilateral reciprocal access agreement at Kishida's official residence in Tokyo on January 6, 2022. Picture: Issei Kato / AFP

While Japan already takes part in important exercises alongside Australia and other like-minded nations through exercises like Talisman Sabre, Malabar and Bushido Guardian, the RAA will take this to a new level.

Through the RAA, Japanese and Australian military platforms and equipment will be able to be made more interoperable through training and remaining in each other’s theatres for longer.

While the RAA stops short of encouraging basing of platforms in each other’s countries, it is the next best thing.

Co-operation on research and development of new technologies and war fighting capabilities will be easier. New contracts for the defence industry in both countries will be made easier. Exchange of intelligence will be smoother.

It has been in negotiation for many years.

As defence industry minister, and then defence minister, I took part in negotiations to bring about the RAA.

I even travelled to Tokyo in early 2019 with the specific intention of concluding the negotiations in preparation for the prime ministers to ink the deal.

It took even longer than we expected back then.

The fact that it has taken many years to broker is a good sign. It means that the agreement actually achieves something. It isn’t a hollow profession of good intentions to bring something about at some unspecified time in the future. It ties us even more closely to Japan in a military sense.

In a wider sense, it also strengthens the Quadrilateral – the grouping of the US, Japan, Australia and India.

Ships taking part in the second phase of the Malabar naval exercise in the Arabian sea – India, Australia, Japan and US started the second phase of a strategic navy drill in November 2020 in the Northern Arabian sea. Picture: Indian Navy/AFP

While the Quad is not a military alliance, the fact that its members are drawing ever more closely together in different ways gives added meaning to the association of four important economic and military powers.

This is a historic turning point in our history. Let’s not forget that Japan is the only nation in the world to have attacked Australia since the colonisation of the continent.

Japan bombed Darwin in preparation for invasion. Japanese midget submarines entered Sydney Harbour and attacked merchant shipping vessels. Both attacks caused loss of life, especially in Darwin.

While these events may have occurred 80 years ago, they form part of our Australian story.

It is ironic that at the time Japan attacked Australia, China was our ally in World War II and Japan was the belligerent.

Today, it is the posture adopted by China in the Indo-Pacific that is driving the geopolitical decisions being made by countries affected by China’s forward leaning policies.

Because of China’s militarisation of the South China Sea, the building of ports in places like Sri Lanka and Djibouti that have turned into pseudo-Chinese naval bases, their overflight of Taiwanese airspace and claims over the East China Sea, nations that had hitherto had a benign view of China’s intentions are drawing closer together.

Ground combat personnel from the Japan Self-Defence Force conduct wet and dry environmental rehearsal training during exercise Talisman Sabre in July 2021. Picture: Supplied

The policy of economic coercion towards Australia and, before that, South Korea has not caused the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian nations or South Korea to tack closer toward China.

It has had the opposite effect so far. South Korea has signed a closer trade, defence and economic co-operation agreement with Australia. ASEAN is more tightly bound together than they have been in recent years.

While everyone accepts the reality of China, all leaders want the Indo Pacific to be a place of peace, economic prosperity, good health and a high standard of living for all.

China has earned the right to be treated as the only other superpower in the world beside the US.

The signing of the RAA sends a clear signal however, that other countries, while much smaller and militarily not as significant, can and will band together to protect their mutually shared values and way of life.