Australia and Japan sign agreement on security

Australia and Japan sign agreement on security

The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

TOKYO: Japan and Australia signed a security agreement on Tuesday to improve an increasingly close defense relationship, while the leaders of the two countries played down concerns that the pact was directed specifically at China or other countries in the region.

Under the joint declaration signed Tuesday by Prime Minister John Howard of Australia and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, Japanese forces will train alongside Australians for disaster relief and peacekeeping missions.

The pact also calls for cooperation between the two countries in counterterrorism measures and intelligence sharing.

"Prime Minister Howard and I agreed that the joint declaration offers a framework for concretely stepping up security ties between our two countries," Abe told reporters at a press conference held after the signing.

The declaration is a "further mark of the trust and cooperation between us," Howard added.

The two countries' security ties have vastly improved since Australian troops provided security for a Japanese aid mission consisting of about 600 troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa. The noncombat mission ended in July.

China has raised concerns that the Australia-Japan security pact was negotiated in secret; it fears the agreement is aimed at containing China's power in the region.

But Howard dismissed those concerns after the signing.

"This declaration lifts the security aspects of our relationship more closely to the level of our economic and commercial ties," Howard told reporters. "Neither China nor any other country in the region should see this declaration as being antagonistic toward them."

Howard, who had dined earlier in the day with Japanese business leaders, and Abe also agreed that negotiations on a free trade pact to begin next month should be undertaken with "sensitivity" toward areas of concern to both sides.

In particular, Howard noted the importance Japan places on its agriculture industry and expressed his "appreciation" that Tokyo was willing to discuss all elements of its concern.

"Japan has been Australia's largest export market," Howard said.

"Given the diversity of our two countries' economies and the interest in a free trade pact," there is much to be gained, Howard said.

The trade agreement would "have major merits in that it will ensure a stable supply to Japan of resources, energy and food," Abe said. "But we both have to be mindful of sensitivities. For Japan, we must attach importance to agriculture."

Japan is already the biggest buyer of Australian exports, and two-way trade in goods and services between the countries was worth about ¥4.07 trillion, or $34.7 billion, during the 2005- 2006 business year.

Australia mainly exports coal, natural gas and beef and buys Japanese motor vehicles and machinery.

The two men, meanwhile, sidestepped a question about whether Japan should apologize anew for wartime atrocities.

"We must of course always have consideration for the past in mind, but at the same time we want to advance the legacy of trust we have built up in the 60 years since the war to contribute to world peace," Abe told reporters.

Howard echoed Abe's sentiments.

"We don't forget the past, but we need also to look to the future and build on a commitment to put the past behind," he said.

Abe triggered outrage across Asia earlier this month by saying there was no proof that women — including some Australians — were coerced into prostitution.

He later said Japan would not apologize again for the military's "comfort stations." A senior Japanese official apologized in 1993 for the government's role, but the apology was not approved by Parliament.

Chinese officials reiterated on Tuesday that Beijing did not pose a military threat to the region and said that more should be done to boost trust throughout Asia.

"We hope what they've said is true," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said at a news conference, referring to Japanese and Australian assurances.

"In the meantime, we are not going to invade or pose a threat to anybody," Qin said.