Japan, Australia to take military ties to ‘new height’ to tackle China clout

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defence Minister Minoru Kihara met their Australian counterparts at an old army fort outside Melbourne, striking deals on greater air force cooperation and expanded military exercises.

“Amidst the increasingly difficult security environment in the Indo-Pacific, we need to constantly raise Japan-Australia security cooperation to a new height,” Kamikawa said after the meeting, touting a “like-minded partnership”.

China’s growing economic and military clout in the Asia-Pacific region – and its assertiveness in territorial disputes – has rattled the United States and allies such as Japan and Australia.