January 6, 2022
A historic defence agreement between Japan and Australia will be “deeply unsettling” to China, demonstrating that President Xi Jinping’s approach to sharp power has been “completely counter-productive”, according to an international security expert.
Scott Morrison announced the deal in a statement on Wednesday, hailing it as a landmark treaty that would mark the “opening of a new chapter of defence and security co-operation”, and offering a framework for improved interoperability and co-operation between the nations’ defence forces.
But according to John Blaxland, director of Australian National University’s Southeast Asia Institute, Beijing’s abrasive style of diplomacy under Mr Xi had inadvertently worked in Australia’s favour, galvanising cautious elements in Japanese politics.
“This will be deeply unsettling to China. What this says, in my view, is that President Xi’s approach to the exercise of sharp power has been completely counter-productive,” Dr Blaxland said.
He said that with the deal under negotiation since 2014, Japan had been hurried by China’s increasing disregard for international rules and punitive use of trade sanctions as a form of punishment.
Moreover, while dispelling misunderstandings that the agreement included a mutual defence clause requiring Australia to defend Japan if attacked, Dr Blaxland said it would bolster both nations’ abilities to deter future Chinese aggression by ensuring they were better positioned to respond.
The Reciprocal Access Agreement would be signed in a virtual leaders’ summit between the Prime Minister and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday.
Liberal Senator James Paterson, chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, said the agreement was unsurprising, providing support for the international rules based order at a time when it was coming under increasing pressure from a range of anti-globalist forces.
“It’s not surprising that like-minded liberal democracies are forging closer military ties amid the changing strategic circumstances in the Indo-Pacific,” Senator Paterson said.
Opposition defence spokesman Brendan O’Connor also welcomed the agreement.
“For some time, federal Labor has been urging for more engagement to ensure we live in a region that’s stable, prosperous and where sovereignty is respected,” he said.
While noting it was an obvious response to rising Chinse belligerence and increased regional instability, ANU visiting fellow Leszek Buszynski played down the significance of the deal, saying it was not a “great milestone”, but rather a “step in the right direction”.
