Australia remains \u201cvery concerned\u201d by North Korea\u2019s nuclear weapons program, Defence Minister Richard Marles has said as the US scales back military drills with South Korea.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump announced the American move overnight, citing his \u201cvery good relationship\u201d with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile,\u201d he posted on social media.<\/p>\n
He also lambasted South Korea for refusing to join his \u201cdenuclearisation\u201d efforts in Iran.<\/p>\n
Mr Marles said on Tuesday that \u201cwhat the United States does is a matter for it\u201d but that Australia had a starkly different view on North Korea.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia is very concerned about North Korea\u2019s nuclear program, as well as its missile program,\u201d he told a press conference with Japanese Defence Minister Koizumi Shinjiro.<\/p>\n
In a nod to his Japanese colleague, Mr Marles noted that he visited Tokyo just after a North Korean missile test last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing that activity happen frequently and we remain very concerned about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Marles went on to call South Korea \u201ca critically important country\u201d, both for Australia bilaterally but in terms of broader three-way defence co-operation with Japan, adding that the countries \u201chave a shared strategic alignment\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the challenging world that we face \u2026 North Korea is the author of quite a few of those challenges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Japanese missiles in Australia<\/p>\n
Mr Shinjiro was in Canberra to talk through deepening defence ties, including Japan testing hypersonic missiles at Australian ranges in what he said \u201cwould be a groundbreaking development second only to similar co-operation with the United States\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added that Tokyo wanted to \u201caccelerate discussions about realising this objective\u201d, which Mr Marles said the Australian side was \u201creally excited about\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Shinjiro also hailed \u201csuccessful\u201d field trials of a jointly developed high energy laser.<\/p>\n
The Boobook project in South Australia is a collaboration by Australia\u2019s Defence Science and Technology Group, Mitsubishi Electric Australia and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.<\/p>\n
It is a powerful laser system that can shoot down fast-moving enemy drones instead of wasting missiles.<\/p>\n
In a separate statement on Tuesday, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said Boobook \u201cdemonstrates close collaboration with Japan, to develop cutting-edge technologies that address real capability needs for the Australian Defence Force\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoobook is more than a technology project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a practical example of the growing defence industrial partnership between Australia and Japan, as well as the opportunities that partnership creates for both nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Quasi ally\u2019<\/p>\n
During the press conference, Mr Shinjiro described Australia as a \u201cquasi-ally\u201d \u2013 an ally without a formal mutual defence pact underpinning the relationship.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to lead and commit to leading the region in our collaboration in defence to contribute to the Indo-Pacific region\u2019s peace and stability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But how far the defence relationship could go remains unclear.<\/p>\n
Japan can only activate its Self Defence Force if there is a clear and present danger to Japan.<\/p>\n
It could help out an ally if not doing so would imperil it.<\/p>\n
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has shown some flexibility by green-lighting intelligence deployments in the Middle East, but Australian Institute of International Affairs chief executive Bryce Wakefield cautioned against reading too much into it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough what constitutes a \u2018survival-threatening situation\u2019 remains a bit up in the air at the moment, Takaichi\u2019s willingness to contemplate limited SDF deployments to the Middle East does not suggest that Japan\u2019s constitutional constraints have fallen away,\u201d he told NewsWire.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Trump pressed her over the Strait of Hormuz, she explicitly invoked the legal and constitutional limits on what Japan could do.\u201d<\/p>\n