Japan and Australia Sign A Landmark Security Pact to Counter Communist China

According to a Japanese media report, Tokyo and Canberra signed a landmark security pact on October 22nd, agreeing to share more sensitive intelligence and deepen military cooperation to confront the military threats posed by Communist China. The latest security treaty signed on Saturday allowed the armed forces of the two countries to conduct joint training in Northern Australia, while both sides agreed to expand and strengthen cooperation in defense and intelligence sharing. In terms of intelligence sharing, although Tokyo has no foreign intelligence agency equivalent to America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Britain’s Military Intelligence Section 6 (MI6), director of the Australian Institute of International Affairs Wakefield said Australia and Japan could depend on their strong technological superiority such as electronic eavesdropping and high-tech satellites to provide invaluable intelligence on rivals. The agreement has also laid foundations for Japanese acceleration of intelligence cooperation with like-minded countries such as the UK. After the meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese released a joint declaration, saying Tokyo and Canberra agreed to deepen trilateral security ties with Washington, take necessary actions against states violating international rules and norms, and make clear the significance of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. In light of the potential crisis across the Taiwan Strait, the implementation of the new pact will serve as a foothold for the integration of security operations among Japan, Australia, and the US.