Strengthening regional stability

The defence partnership between Australia and Japan signed by Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday is one that Australians and Japanese of a previous generation could never have imagined, Defence Minister Peter Dutton wrote on Friday. In an increasingly unstable region, it is an important agreement for the times as like-minded democracies seek to buttress their own security, build partnerships and increase defence co-operation. Like Australia, Japan is also part of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with the US and India.

In his article, Mr Dutton did not mention China. He had no need to do so. Australia, Japan, the US and South Korea are witnessing regional military expansion by Beijing on a scale and at a pace rarely seen in history. As Mr Dutton said: “Like-minded nations are waking up to difficult truths.’’ Japanese ambassador Shingo Yamagami told Joe Kelly earlier in the week Japan 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”.

The Prime Minister and Mr Kishida found much to agree on: the need for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait; concerns about human rights abuses against Uighur and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang; the erosion of democracy and freedoms in Hong Kong; and North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. They also called for an immediate end to violence against civilians and the release of all those arbitrarily detained in Myanmar.

The Reciprocal Access Agreement will increase Australia-Japan defence co-operation, allowing the nations’ military forces to operate in each other’s countries. In addition to more frequent and sophisticated training operations, it will assist co-operation in cyber and space capabilities and between the nations’ defence industries. In one of his first moves as Prime Minister, Mr Kishida doubled Japan’s defence budget to 2 per cent of gross domestic product, with a focus on fighter aircraft, submarines and warships.

The Morrison government and South Korea also have worked hard to lift their strategic and economic relationship. In an act of solidarity last month, South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited Canberra when Australia finalised a $1bn contract with South Korea to build 30 self-propelled howitzers and 15 armoured ammunition resupply vehicles. Every defence initiative, as Mr Dutton says, counts cumulatively towards deterring aggression, strengthening regional stability and maintaining peace.