Japan shores up bilateral alliance

The significance of Japan’s decision to sign its most important defence agreement in more than 60 years with Australia would be difficult to overstate. The agreement, to be signed this week, underlines the depth of our relationship with Tokyo. The agreement will upgrade bilateral military co-operation, facilitating a ramp-up in joint exercises, greater interoperability and easy access to military facilities for both sides.

The agreement, hailed as a “pivotal moment” in Japanese-Australian relations by Scott Morrison, was to have been signed in Australia. But Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has cancelled his trip amid Australia’s Omicron outbreak.

The agreement comes at a time, as Will Glasgow wrote on Tuesday, “in every capital across the Indo-Pacific – from New Delhi to Hanoi to Taipei – all the talk is about Xi’s China and what to do about it … even capitals beyond the region are worried”. The importance of the agreement, a historic first for Japan, will not be lost on China at a time of rising tensions caused by Chinese communist belligerence.

One of Mr Kishida’s first acts as Prime Minister was to double Japan’s defence budget from the long-held level of 1 per cent of gross domestic product, from $US50bn annually to $US100bn ($138.6bn). A vast inventory of fighter aircraft, submarines and warships for Japan’s Self Defence Force are to be acquired. The build-up coincides with Beijing’s threats to overrun Taiwan, aggression towards smaller nations in the region and threats to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

Following the signing of the AUKUS security agreement in September last year, Xi Jinping, who has not left Beijing for 22 months, should not underestimate the strategic importance of the strengthening relationship between Canberra and Tokyo. Taiwanese intelligence reports claim Beijing is rattled about the AUKUS pact.

Deepening ties between Canberra and Tokyo are part of a broader alliance among the world’s democracies, led by the US, that should show the communist regime the determination of other nations to resist its aggression. The strength of the emerging alliances stem paradoxically from China, which “keep pushing until they hit steel”, Glasgow wrote. Last month, the Prime Minister welcomed South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in for talks on regional security.

As Japanese ambassador Shingo Yamagami told Joe Kelly, the agreement with Australia would open a “new chapter in our co-operation”. Japan, he said, was “facing a security environment in which we have to address ever-increasing difficulties in areas such as the South China Sea and the East China Sea or throughout the Indo-Pacific region”.