Japan is Cool

Today Japan is an important friend of Australia.

Our military ties with Japan worry China
Dennis Shanahan and Patrick Walters
March 10, 2007
AUSTRALIA and Japan are about to embark on their most wide-ranging military and intelligence-sharing agreement, in a move that is generating concern from Beijing.
In the 50th anniversary year of the signing of the post-war Australia-Japan trade pact, Tokyo and Canberra will agree on a joint security declaration that promises to transform defence relations between the two countries.

The agreement, to be signed in Tokyo next week by John Howard and his counterpart, Shinzo Abe, is the first the Japanese have sealed with any nation other than the US. It could lead to Japanese troops training in Australia as co-operation on defence issues is stepped up.
The deal also has a strong focus on intelligence-sharing.

The security aspect has aroused the attention of Chinese representatives in Canberra, who have informally expressed concern about the deal's "lack of transparency".
Their complaint is that intelligence-sharing between Australia and Japan, ostensibly for counter-terrorism, will extend to intelligence-sharing about China's missile systems and military build-up.

Australia, one of the first nations to protest publicly about China's recent testing of missiles that can destroy satellites, has just agreed to host another US military base. China's recently departed ambassador to Australia, Fu Ying, raised Beijing's concerns "informally" with the Howard Government several weeks ago. It is understood South Korea, caught between China and Japan and sharing a peninsula with nuclear-threatening North Korea, has also voiced concerns.