Australia prime minister Scott Morrison has arrived in Japan on a state visit highlighting the deepening military and economic ties that will likely lead to the formation of a military alliance to counter China.
It is the first and only international trip of the year for Morrison, who also became the first foreign leader to visit Japan's new prime minister Yoshihide Suga at home.
Morrison was the first world leader Suga called after he became prime minister Sept. 16. Suga later called U.S. president Donald Trump.
Morrison and Suga are expected to reach a defense agreement cementing their countries' closer strategic relationship driven by the shared need to thwart China's geopolitical aggression. Australian political pundits assert China will dominate discussions between Suga and Morrison.
An important part of their talks will be resolving contentious portions of the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) between both countries. RAA defines the legal limits of Australian Defense Force troops deployed in and around Japan, and those for Japan's Self-Defense Force troops in Australia.
Talks about revising the agreement have remained deadlocked over the condition that Australian troops will be subject to the death penalty in Japan for crimes such as rape and murder.
Australia and Japan have been negotiating the RAA since 2014. When signed by both countries, the RAA will be the first agreement covering a foreign military presence in Japanese territory since the 1960 Status of Forces Agreement with the United States.
A mutually acceptable RAA is vital if Australia and Japan are to increase their military cooperation, including in the hotly contested South and East China Sea where China claims supremacy.
China's militarization of the South China Sea and its incursion into Japanese territory in the East China Sea are viewed with alarm by both Australia and Japan. Australia and Japan have previously signed intelligence and defense research sharing agreements.
Morrison and Suga will also discuss the economic recovery from the pandemic. Australia is Japan's largest supplier of energy and strategic raw materials.
Japan is Australia's most important partner in Asia. It is the world's third largest economy and important to regional peace, prosperity and stability. For Japan, Australia is its most important economic and military ally in Asia.
Along with the U.S. and India, Australia and Japan are the two other members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. QSD was an initiative of former Japanese prime minister Abe Shinzo and was organized in 2017.
QSD aims to establish an "Asian Arc of Democracy" that will ultimately include countries in Central Asia, and Mongolia, South Korea, the Southeast Asian countries and "virtually all the countries on China's periphery, except for China itself."
