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Subject: Defense pact with Australia eyed
maruben    9/21/2009 9:07:22 AM
Monday, Sept. 21, 2009 Defense pact with Australia eyed Accord would cover logistic support but opposition expected from coalition member SDP Kyodo News Japan is considering signing a defense supply agreement with Australia that would enable the two countries to share food, fuel and other material and services, government sources said Sunday. Tokyo currently only has this type of pact, called an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, with the United States. A similar agreement with Canberra would help the Self-Defense Forces expand their scope of international cooperation but could face resistance from the Social Democratic Party, a member of the ruling coalition. The SDP, a junior partner of the Democratic Party of Japan and a champion of the war-renouncing Constitution, has been critical of sending the SDF on overseas missions. Under the supply agreement between Japan and the U.S., which took effect in 1996, the SDF and the U.S. military have been building a framework for sharing supplies and services necessary for joint drills, U.N. peacekeeping operations and international disaster relief activities. Revisions in 1999 and 2004 have expanded the sphere of logistic cooperation to include security-threatening situations near Japan and armed attacks on Japan. An agreement with Australia could allow the two countries to share transport of supplies as well as repair and other services for joint drills, U.N. peacekeeping operations and international humanitarian operations, according to the sources. The SDF cooperated with the Australian military in 2005 for postwar reconstruction efforts in southern Iraq as well as rescue operations in the wake of the catastrophic 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. Japan and Australia held defense ministerial talks last December and signed a memorandum of understanding calling for enhanced cooperation between the SDF and the Australian military in international peace efforts and antiterrorism activities. The two countries have also been stepping up mutual visits of top uniformed defense officials. The Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Australian Navy conducted a joint drill for the first time Thursday off the coast of Japan.
 
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Parmenion    Here's hoping   9/21/2009 11:02:56 AM
 
Hope it goes through and hope the Japanese and Autralian goverments can be long-sighted enough not to go for the false economy of defence cuts. A strong JMSDF and RAN is just what the doctor ordered for that region. China cannot be allowed to bully sovreign democratic nations.
 
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gf0012-aust       9/22/2009 5:41:56 AM
Japan and Aust have been getting closer over the last few years.  The Navy links are very very good and the Japanese have been running co-op hypersonic weapons tests in australia.

another one being touted has been Malaysia, Sth Korea and Japan as a counter to China.  That has come from the Malays but is embryonic....  Again, Navy links between us all are strong and in partic the airforces and submarine services are very close.
 
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Parmenion    gf-Aust   9/22/2009 7:14:13 AM
 
 
As a British poster I hope people the electorate wake up and realise under-investing in defence is a false economy. But if they don't, and if Cameron gets in and begins cutting left right and centre, combined with the fact that he's an idiot, Britain will lose it's place in the top division, along with the immense amount of respect Gordon Brown has built up for us with his work on development, trade, getting peacekeppers to Darfur and basically stopping the financial crisis going nuclear as well as coming up with the plan, now adopted by everyone, to get us out of it.
 
Then America may as well forget the Special relationship and NATO since bailing out lazy, complacent and cowardly Europeans who then deride you as warmongering fascists is not pleasant for anyone. Europe can come up with some sort of poorly funded hippie collective security agreement, and the US should look further afield.
 
A new West Pacific Treaty Orginisation with the democraices threatened by China might be the way to go, similar to the spirit of the original NATO, might be a way to go, as well as closer links with S.America and India. Not saying I like this much as a British person who enjoys European culture- but if Europeans continually fil to realise the role defence has to make the world a better place, and policians continually take the false economy of severe underinvestment or cuts, then we will be unable to fufill our duties as allies. You can already see this in Afghanistan.
 
Sorry, just my little moan but unsuprisingly for a regular poster on a defence forum I care about defence and our ability to help people and I'm p~ssed off about it. But seriously, a NATO-like orginization with the US, Japan, Autralia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and maybe even India if you were lucky would be immensely positive for the region.
 
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Le Zookeeper    To counter China?   9/23/2009 4:12:04 AM
Japan is actually moving away from the US as the economic crisis continues. China Japan trade now exceeds US Japan trade. Australia too is basically Chinas mineshaft. If anything I expect CHina and Japan to be allied over the longrun and maybe AUstralia moves in to the dragon sphere. Folks in 10years its the end of the US era and thereis no further willingness in the US to support such a massive defence commitment. You can reasonably expect US defence budget to be cut effectively by 50%(mabe due to inflation), I say let Japan go its own way. This is clearly passe cold war thinking, the world changed when Lehman brothers collapsed.
 
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