Australia seeks to bolster South Korea, Japan defence ties
Tokyo | Japan will eventually have a role to play in the next phase of the AUKUS security agreement, according to Defence Minister Richard Marles, who pledged to further bolster defence ties with Tokyo and Seoul after meetings with his North Asian counterparts this week.
Against the backdrop of escalating tensions in the Middle East, Mr Marles also said Australia wanted to progress defence dialogue with China, which he said was still not at the level it was before diplomatic relations soured in 2019.
Defence Minister Richard Marles inspects an honour guard with his Japanese counterpart Minoru Kihara in Tokyo. AP
Mr Marles was speaking in Tokyo after a two-day diplomatic blitz in North Asia where Australia is seeking to bolster security ties with Japan and South Korea, which are ramping up defence spending and aligning themselves closer to Washington due to shared concerns about China and North Korea.
He said while both countries were concerned about the situation in the Middle East, neither believed the Israel-Gaza conflict increased the risk of one breaking out in the Indo-Pacific.
“There is anxiety in [South] Korea about links North Korea has with terrorist organisations elsewhere in the world and that would include Hamas,” Mr Marles told AFR Weekend in Tokyo.
“But I don’t think there is a sense that what is happening reverberates back into the East Asia time zone in a way that increases tension here.”
Mr Marles, who met South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik on Thursday, said there had never been a greater alignment of defence ties between Canberra and Seoul. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is building closer security ties with the United States and Japan in a move which has angered Beijing.
“That reflects a much more outward-looking posture by Korea wanting to play its part in the Indo-Pacific and the world. What we are witnessing now is a transformation of the relationship. Taking it to a place where it has never been before,” Mr Marles said.
He also flagged more joint military exercises between Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and the United States. He met Japan’s new Defence Minister, Minoru Kihara, on Thursday. Japan and Australia this year ratified a new Reciprocal Access Agreement, a treaty designed to make it easier for both countries to hold joint military exercises.
Asked if Japan would be invited to join the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in the next phase of its development known as pillar 2, he said it was possible.
“We didn’t specially talk about that [in the Australia-Japan defence meeting on Thursday] but we have spoken about it in the past. The answer to that question is over a period of time, yes, but we really need to get pillar two in the shorter term delivering for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States,” Mr Marles said.
He confirmed Australia would send a defence official to China’s top international security forum, the Xiangshan Forum, next week. Mr Marles said he could not comment on the disappearance of China’s Defence Minister, Li Shangfu, but said Australia wanted to move defence dialogue with China forward.
“It is not at the level it was prior to it being stopped,” he said. “We started the process of getting it back in place, but we haven’t completed the process. It is important in terms of avoiding miscalculation and making sure there is appropriate communication and familiarity.”
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