Australia and Japan on Friday said they would deepen cooperation to address increasing security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, including assisting each other in evacuating citizens at risk overseas.
“We agreed to further strengthen our collective deterrence capabilities and to activate discussions on potential contingencies that could affect the security of both countries and the region,” Japan’s Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said.
Japan and Australia, both close allies of the United States, are forging closer ties as China’s regional influence expands. Their cooperation includes joint military training and a reciprocal access agreement signed in 2023 that allows their forces to operate on each other’s territory.