By Feng Hui and Qin Hongkun
Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia held talks and signed off on a revised Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation (JDSC) on October 22 in Perth, Australia. This is the first time in 15 years that the two countries have signed a defense cooperation document after the then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and then-Australian Prime Minister John Howard signed a JDSC in 2007.
Since both Japan and Australia are members of the Quad, and Australia is also a member of the AUKUS and the Five Eyes Alliance, the new JDSC may possibly strengthen the Quad and the interactions between Japan and AUKUS and the Five Eyes Alliance, which will have a negative impact on the situation in the Indo-Pacific region.
According to the text of the new JDSC published by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the new JDSC involves military, economic, political, and other fields. It emphasizes that cooperation between the two countries will be promoted based on the 2007 JDSC and the special strategic partnership established in 2014.
At the same time, the new JDSC claims to strengthen trilateral cooperation with the US in the Indo-Pacific region. The declaration stated: "bilateral partnership also reinforces our respective alliances with the US that serve as critical pillars for our security…Deepening trilateral cooperation with the United States is critical to enhancing our strategic alignment, policy coordination, interoperability and joint capability."
The new JDSCon security cooperation also elaborates on the content of military cooperation between Japan and Australia. According to the new JDSC, the two countries will enhance interoperability between the Australian Defense Force and the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) through more sophisticated joint exercises and operations and multilateral exercises with other partners. The two will reinforce cooperation in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, advanced defense science and technology, defense industry and high-end capabilities. Japan said the JSDF will conduct joint training with Australian troops in northern Australia and establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism with Australia.
According to foreign media reports, the new JDSC is the only similar declaration that Japan has signed with other countries in addition to that with the US. Kishida Fumio said that the new declaration of security cooperation pointed out the direction for the security and defense cooperation between Japan and Australia in the next 10 years, and he also believed that the declaration strengthened the bilateral relationship between Japan and Australia and the US. Albanese said at the press conference where the two heads of government presented that the declaration between the two countries sends a strong signal of the Japan-Australia strategic alliance to the Indo-Pacific region.
It is obvious that the US is behind the signing of the new JDSC. The purpose of the US is nothing more than to encourage Japan and Australia, its two regional allies, to act as "pawns" of its so-called Indo-Pacific strategy to maintain its regional and global hegemony. However, Japan and Australia also have their own plans. Analysts believe that Australia has the plan of using Japan to deeply participate in Indo-Pacific affairs and enhance its regional influence. Japan hopes to improve its status in the Quad by signing the new JDSC and seeks to break through its diplomatic and military restrictions. Japan is one step closer to joining the Five Eyes Alliance by establishing an intelligence-sharing mechanism with Australia. Relevant measures deserve the attention and vigilance of neighboring countries.
