Tokyo, 13 October, /AJMEDIA/
The foreign and defense ministers of Japan and Australia are considering holding talks in Tokyo next week, government sources said Thursday, in an effort to deepen their security partnership amid China’s military buildup in the region.
At the meeting planned on Oct 20, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, who assumed their posts in a Cabinet overhaul in mid-September, are also expected to discuss with their Australian counterparts how to increase joint drills under a new defense cooperation treaty that took effect in August, the Japanese sources added.
The two governments last held “two-plus-two” talks in December in Tokyo.
The gathering would also come after the Japan-Australia Reciprocal Access Agreement became effective on Aug. 13, enabling quicker deployment of defense personnel between the two countries and easing restrictions on the transportation of weapons and supplies.
The National Defense Strategy, revamped last December by the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, specifies that Japan will “build the closest cooperative relationship” with Australia, ranking it second only to Japan-U.S. defense cooperation.
Japan and Australia are part of a four-way security framework with the United States and India known as the Quad, aimed at presenting a united front against China’s expanding military and economic clout.
