At QUAD, Japan seeks closer security ties with Australia sans joining AUKUS

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the newly elected Australian Prime Minister held a meeting on the sidelines of the QUAD Summit on Tuesday. During the meeting, Kishida affirmed close cooperation with Australia in order to focus on the rising influence of China in the Pacific region. Though the Japanese Prime Minister clarified that Tokyo has no intention of joining the AUKUS security alliance but affirmed he wants to deepen security ties with the newly formed Australia's Anthony Albanese government.

"We are not thinking at all of joining AUKUS right now but our important partners in security and defence like Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States are members of AUKUS," The Australian Financial Review quoted Kishida as saying. "We would like to further strengthen our close partnership with these countries," he added.

It is worth mentioning earlier it was reported that the Japanese government would announce joining the AUKUS security alliance as the US vowed to support Taiwan in case of Chinese incursion. Meanwhile, like US President Joe Biden, Kishida too expressed gratitude to the Australian PM Albanese for reaching Tokyo on the same day he took charge of the office. Kishida said Tokyo and Canberra were special strategic partners and shared the same fundamental values.

Further, he agreed to work more closely with Australia to promote cooperation among Pacific Island countries. “Pacific Island nations are important partners in realising a free and open Indo-Pacific and I would like to work closely with our allies and like-minded countries like Australia, New Zealand and others," Kishida said during the presser on Tuesday. 

More about the AUKUS deal and the controversy

It is worth mentioning that AUKUS is a trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Under the deal, the US and the UK will help Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines. The main agenda of the security alliance is to ensure a “Free and open Indo-Pacific”. Earlier, France had signed a contract with Australia in 2016 to deliver a dozen conventional diesel-electric submarines to Australia.

The deal was worth at least $66 billion. However, in September last year, the deal was abruptly cancelled by former Australia PM Scott Morrison. Subsequently, both countries locked their horns over the cancellation of the agreement. French PM Emmanuel Macron accused Canberra of dropping the French submarine contract in order to favour American nuclear-powered vessels. However, the former Australian PM refuted the French President's allegations and claimed that he had raised issues several months ago.