US Navy commander on Asia welcomes Japan-Australia armed service pact as 'encouraging'
19 November, 2020
A senior US Navy commander in Asia over Thursday (Nov 19) welcomed an agreement by Japan and Australia to tighten army cooperation which will bolster the USA in a region where China's influence keeps growing.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Australian leader Scott Morrison found on Tuesday agreed on principle in a Reciprocal Access Arrangement (RAA) that will more closely align the US allies through a legal framework allowing each other's troops to go to for training and conduct joint military operations.
In a joint statement, Suga and Morrison expressed "serious concerns about the problem" in the South and East China Seas and "strong opposition" to militarising disputed islands and other unilateral attempts to improve the status quo, without identifying China - signalling their sensitivity toward their biggest trading partner.
"That kind of agreement is actually helpful and encouraging to everybody in your community. We are incredibly supportive of that agreement and we anticipate exercising along correct with them," Vice Admiral William Merz, commander of the US Navy's Seventh Fleet, which is normally headquartered in Japan, explained throughout a roundtable briefing.
The agreement between Canberra and Tokyo, Japan's first with another country since an identical agreement with Washington in 1960, comes as the two countries work more closely with america and India within an informal grouping referred to as the "Quad" because they grow more worried about Chinese activity in the South China Sea and East China Sea.
Suga hosted overseas ministers from the Quad found in Tokyo previous month before going to Vietnam and Indonesia to deepen ties with essential Southeast Asian nations.
Merz, who actually spoke with Lieutenant Standard H Stacy Clardy, the commanding standard of III Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, said greater cooperation in the region is not targeted at China.
"There is no try to contain China or other people, we want to create an environment of inclusion," he said.
Beijing, which says its intentions in your community are peaceful, possesses described the Quad as a "mini-NATO".
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was shaped to provide collective security against the then Soviet Union and is still regarded as a threat by Russia as it expands to add some European states which were formerly the main Eastern Bloc.
'STRONG DISSATISFIED': CHINA
China on Wednesday said that it had been "strongly dissatisfied and against the unwarranted accusations" written found in the affirmation issued by Japan and Australia.
"The countries concerned must have a clear knowledge of the situation and prevent the wrongdoings that undermine China's sovereignty and interests and interfere in China's internal affairs," said spokesperson of China's ministry of overseas affairs Zhao Lijian.
He added that mutual value and equal treatment will be the "bases of practical cooperation among different countries".
"I want to anxiety that the Australian aspect is completely aware of the crux of the decline of bilateral relations. Whoever started the trouble should end it," said Zhao.
"We hope the Australian side must do more to improve the mutual trust and cooperation and enhance the in depth strategic partnership between your two countries."
The Japan-Australia agreement also came under similar criticism in China on Tuesday, with the state-backed newspaper the Global Times saying america "is which consists of two anchors in the Asia-Pacific region to push forward the construction of an Asian version of NATO".
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com