Today, United States President Joe Biden announced the launch of a new air defence strategy in partnership with Australia and Japan.
The announcement was made during a joint press conference with Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida at the White House in Washington, DC. This military cooperation is aimed at deterring potential threats from China.
“Today we are announcing our vision for cooperation on a networked air defence architecture between the United States, Japan and Australia to address growing air and missile threats,” the two leaders said in a joint statement.
The agreement includes enhanced cooperation and information sharing on countering air threats including missiles. It aims to strengthen security and defence across the Indo-Pacific region as China shows increasing interest and asserts influence in the region.
“This is a deal between Australia, Japan and the United States to enhance our capability. We want to cooperate with countries in the region in particular,” stated Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Nine’s Today program on Thursday further added that the agreement would see closer collaboration between the three countries.
At the same time, the US and Japan are considering the possibility of bringing Japan as a technology partner within the AUKUS alliance of Australia, the US and Britain. This would involve sharing and developing advanced military technology such as supersonic missiles and artificial intelligence.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and discussed incidents of threatening behaviour in the region, including volatile incidents between US and Chinese military units in the South China Sea.
This cooperation is an important step in enhancing security and stability in the region and responds to growing concern about geopolitical developments in Asia and the Pacific. Although the details of the air defence systems have not yet been made public, the commitment of these three countries to military cooperation is expected to have wide-ranging implications for the region.
