Australia, Japan, India and US secure navy ties amid Asia-Pacific ‘militarisation’ threats

A key meeting of Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister and her US, Japanese and Indian counterparts has singled out maritime lawlessness as a key issue in the Indo-Pacific region.

The foreign ministers of Australia, the US, Japan and India have called out the “twisting” of long standing rules in the Indo-Pacific region, as they announced strengthening of naval communications.

The four met in Tokyo where they said navy communication centres were being linked together to enforce borders and fishing rules to address the issue in the key region.

Elaborating in a further joint statement, they said the four countries held serious concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas.

“We continue to express our serious concern about the militarisation of disputed features, and coercive and intimidating manoeuvres in the South China Sea,” they said.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaking at a joint press conference in Tokyo. Picture: YouTube

“We also express our serious concern about the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, the increasing use of various kinds of dangerous manoeuvres, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has been on a busy diplomatic trip through Asia during the past few days, culminating in a “quad” meeting with her Indian, Japanese and US counterparts on Monday.

The four ministers spoke to the media afterwards, where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken singled out North Korea’s “destabilising and unlawful missile launches”, and Russia’s “ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine” as of particular concern for the region.

Senator Wong said “long standing rules are being bent or twisted and broken” in the region.

“Countries face coercive trade measures, unsustainable lending, political interference and disinformation,” she said.

“From building cyber security capacity to combating illegal fishing, quad partners are expanding co-operation and using our comparative advantages for good.”

United States and Australian navy ties have been further consolidated by the meetings this week. Picture: US navy

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, whose speech was translated live, said Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and Chinese and North Korean actions were making the future even more unforeseeable.

The meeting of the four nations focused on military, public and private sector maritime and subsea cable communications.

An open Radio Access Networks centre is being developed in the Micronesian nation of Palau, and the respective navy information centres were being linked, Indian External Affairs Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said.

“Do appreciate what an expansive agenda we have built up in the last few years,” he said of the four country pact.

Mr Jaishankar cited telecommunications and undersea cable technology, humanitarian and disaster relief, critical emerging technologies, cyber and health, climate action, infrastructure and training, maritime order and counter-terrorism activities as key achievements of the pact.

Penny Wong and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan on Monday. Picture: DFAT

“This is not a talk shop, but a platform that generates practical outcomes.”

In November several divers from HMAS Toowoomba sustained injuries from sonar pulses emitted by a Chinese warship in international waters off Japan, which China disputed.

In May the Australian government accused a Chinese fighter jet of dropping flares dangerously close to an Australian helicopter in the Yellow Sea off the Korean coastline.

The nations announced funds and a consolidated centre for subsea cable training, development and maintenance in the region. Australia will kick in $18m, and the venture sits underneath the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.