Australia and Japan to sign security cooperation treaty

Australia and Japan are set to sign a treaty to beef up defence and security cooperation at a virtual summit on Thursday. The move to strengthen ties comes amid China's rising military power and economic clout in the Indo-Pacific region. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, he and his Japan counterpart Fumio Kishida would sign a Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), which would for the first time set out a framework for the two countries' defence forces to cooperate with each other. He said, this treaty will be a statement of the two nations' commitment to work together in meeting the shared strategic security challenges they face and to contribute to a secure and stable Indo-Pacific.The strengthened security ties will expand on efforts of Quad grouping comprising United States, Japan, India and Australia dubbed to work on shared concerns as well as freedom of navigation in the region.

"[The RAA] will usher in a new chapter in advanced defence cooperation between Australia and Japan to deal with a new and even more challenging environment, particularly within the Indo-Pacific,"  Morrison said at a press conference. The strengthened security ties expand on efforts by the United States, Japan, India and Australia — dubbed the Quad — to work on shared concerns about China, including its pressure on Taiwan, trade disputes, and freedom of navigation in the region. China responded by saying that bilateral treaties should promote regional trust, peace and stability. "It should not target or harm any third party interests," China's foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, said when asked about the treaty at a daily news briefing on Wednesday."The Pacific Ocean is big enough for the common development of countries in the region.