Plan for Japanese Troops to Be Stationed in Australia Amid Beijing’s Military Incursions

Japanese soldiers on a reconnaissance team stand at attention on the beach at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii after amphibious landing practice on Tuesday, July 29, 2014. The amphibious landing exercises, which are relatively new to Japan’s military, come as Tokyo tries to boost its ability to defend small islands it controls but China claims as its own. AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is looking to host Japanese rapid-response maritime brigade alongside U.S. marine rotations through northern Australia.

Further, Exercise Orient Shield—the largest bilateral wargame between Japan and the United States—will be expanded to include Australia for the first time next year.

On Sept. 5, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles hosted their Japanese counterparts near Melbourne for annual talks.

The new announcements come amid Beijing’s unprecedented military build-up and repeated Chinese air force and navy incursions in Japanese territory.

Most recently, a Chinese survey vessel briefly entered territorial waters off Kagoshima prefecture on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands.

Five days earlier, on Aug. 26, a Chinese Y-9 surveillance aircraft breached Japanese airspace over a small island off Kyushu.

Beijing denied any wrongdoing saying its vessel exercised its right to transit under international maritime laws.

Support for Japan’s Sovereignty

The incidents add to an already tense relationship between Beijing and Tokyo, whose claims to territory in the Senkaku Islands are repeatedly challenged by the Chinese Coast Guard.

“We certainly expressed our support for Japan’s sovereignty,” Australia’s Marles said. “We will see more training, more exercises, more people-to-people links between our two air forces.”

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said through a translator, “We should jointly strengthen our deterrence capability in the region [and] utilise our partnership with the United States, which is a common ally.”

For Exercise Bushido Guardian 2023, Japanese jet fighters visited Darwin with Australia reciprocating.

Defence Minister Minoru Kihara said the latest agreement paved the way for closer ties and training drills between Japanese, Australian, and American air forces.

The two countries also agreed to a new initiative to boost connectivity and cyber security in the Pacific, expanding information sharing and doing more to publicly name those behind cyber attacks.

Senator Wong pledged that Australia will continue to supply Japan with gas as global economies make the transition to renewable energy.

“Australia and Japan have had, historically, such an important economic relationship because we have been a reliable energy supplier,” she said.

QUAD nation leaders from Australia, Japan, India and the US are set to meet in the coming weeks.

AAP contributed to this story.