Japan, Australia sign landmark defence deal to counter China's influence in South China Sea

Japan and Australia signed a landmark defence deal on November 17, 2020 in an attempt to counter China's growing influence in the South China and Indo Pacific region. The pact was signed during a high-level meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his visiting Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga tweeted saying that he was pleased that the Japan-Australia Facilitation Agreement, which they had been negotiating to take the security and defense cooperation of both countries to a new level, has reached a general agreement. He further promised to work closely with the Australian Prime Minister to realize a "free and open Indo-Pacific."

The Australian Prime Minister also informed through a statement that both the nations have reached an in-principle agreement on a landmark defence deal, which will further deepen the strategic and security relationship between the two countries. 

#日豪首脳会談 #日豪円滑化協定#自由で開かれたインド太平洋@ScottMorrisonMP@sugawitter pic.twitter.com/IgB0WpsKhd

— 首相官邸 (@kantei) November 17, 2020

Key Highlights

•The Japan- Australia Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) comes weeks after foreign ministers of the Quad alliance met in Tokyo. Besides Australia and Japan, the QUAD group includes the United States and India as well.

•The defence agreement has taken six years to negotiate and would need to be ratified by lawmakers of both countries.

•The agreement has opened up a new chapter of advanced defence cooperation between Japan and Australia.

•Japan has struck only one such agreement in the past with another country and that was with the United States 60 years ago.

Significance

The Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) will form a strong base to help both the nations to respond to an increasingly challenging security environment in the region amid uncertain strategic circumstances.

The statement issued after the signing of the agreement also expressed serious concern about the situation in the South China Sea without mentioning Beijing and reiterated the strong opposition of Japan and Australia to any coercive or unilateral attempts to change the status quo and thereby increase tensions in the region.