The United States could rely on regional cooperation with Japan and Australia to thwart Chinese ambitions in the region as the two Indo-Pacific nations develop closer ties and stronger military capabilities, former officials told Fox News Digital. “Japan and Australia share a common position on the need to balance China’s power in the Indo-Pacific region, and we have in fact for years,” former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Fox News Digital. “[China] under Xi Jinping has become incredibly aggressive and tried to dominate the area, and this will completely destabilize the area if they do. “We need to make sure that China understands that we are happy to work with China and sell to China, but we are not going to be intimidated by China.” The United States is facing a difficult and complex attempt to control China’s regional ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. Officials have previously told Fox News Digital that the United States is relying on overlapping bilateral treaties to create a similar partnership used by the majority of Europe through NATO. Leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) from left to right, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pose for a photo at the entrance to the Japanese office. in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (Sadayuki Goto / Kyodo News via AP) (Sadayuki Goto / Kyodo News via AP) Downer argued that it was better to operate on the assumption that China’s political system “will not change from now on when I die.” The most credible form of US deterrence remains the Quartet Security Dialogue (or QUAD) between the US, Japan, Australia and India. QUAD does not have the same military commitments as NATO, but China has denounced it as an “Asian NATO.” TAIWAN WARNS CHINA THAT IT HAS A MISSION ABLE TO BLOCK BEIJING “QUAD came from what we originally called the tripartite security dialogue, which was with the United States, Australia and Japan, and India has been added to it by the Japanese, in fact, and very logically,” Downer explained. . “Japan has been a very, very reliable ally in the Indo-Pacific region, in fact for Australia, and just as much for the United States.” Ambassador Mikio Mori, Consul General of Japan in New York, explained to Fox News Digital that apart from its alliance with the United States, Japan has no “better” ally in the region, instead relying on a mosaic of collaborations with different partners. fulfilling different roles.
Next US President Joe Biden, front, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, front right, listen to the national anthem during a welcoming ceremony for President Biden at Akasaka Palace State Hostel in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, May 23rd. 2022. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko, Pool) (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
But the United States sees the relationship between Japan and Australia as a critical element of its Indo-Pacific deterrent policy toward China. Former Japan State Department chief Kevin Macher told Fox News Digital that “aside from the United States,” Australia is “clearly” Japan’s most important relationship. US President Joe Biden, front, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, front right, listen to the national anthem during a welcoming ceremony for President Biden at Akasaka Palace State Hostel in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, May 23rd. 2022. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko, Pool) (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko, Pool) He acknowledged that their numbers were not enough to defeat Japan, but said that maintaining some independence was important. AUSTRALIA SAYS CHINA STOPPED A MILITARY PLANE OVER THE SOUTH CHINA SEA, FORCING IT TO RETURN TO THE BASE The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, through which Beijing invests in smaller developing countries, has helped China gain influence in “second- and third-tier” countries important to the supply chain, particularly in the military, cyber-piracy and acquisition sectors. Beijing even cut off Japan from rare earth metal resources in retaliation for a dispute over fishing vessels and waters in 2010. Japan at the time had become almost entirely dependent on China for these metals. Japan has since worked to expand its military capabilities, which the US government “welcomed very much”. Japan currently boasts one of the largest expenditures on its military, spending about $ 49 billion a year – seventh most, placing it ahead of Russia and South Korea but behind the United Kingdom and Germany.
previous In this October 16, 2016 archive photo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in front, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands with the leaders at the BRICS summit in Goa, India. At least three Indian soldiers, including a senior army officer, have been killed in a clash with Chinese troops along their disputed border high in the Himalayas, where thousands of troops on both sides have been fighting for more than a month. The military said in a statement on Tuesday, June 16, 2020, that a “violent confrontation” took place in the Galwan Valley in the Ladakh region on Monday night “with casualties on both sides”. (AP Photo / Manish Swarup, Archive)
“In 2015, the then prime minister changed his fundamental policy to allow what is called collective self-defense,” Maher explained. “Until then, business planning… was very limited because they could only do what is called individual self-defense, which means they were purely limited to Japan’s defense.” In this October 16, 2016 archive photo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in front, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands with the leaders at the BRICS summit in Goa, India. At least three Indian soldiers, including a senior army officer, have been killed in a clash with Chinese troops along their disputed border high in the Himalayas, where thousands of troops on both sides have been fighting for more than a month. The military said in a statement on Tuesday, June 16, 2020, that a “violent confrontation” took place in the Galwan Valley in the Ladakh region on Monday night “with casualties on both sides”. (AP Photo / Manish Swarup, Archive) The “collective defense” measure meets the conditions in situations in which Japan is facing an “existential crisis”, which is defined in Article 2 of its constitution as “an armed attack on a foreign state having close relations with Japan, and as a result “threatens Japan’s survival.” “This is a direct attack on Japan, for example, the scenario for the Taiwan Straits or a scenario for the Korean Peninsula,” Maher said. “So there is a lot more combined training going on and combined planning between the US and Japan.” REP. TERNER: ADMINISTRATOR BIDEN SHOULD BE VERY CONCERNED ABOUT CHINA’S WARNING ABOUT TAIWAN The biggest regional unknown remains India’s stance and alignment in the region: Downer expressed concern about India’s position, saying it “still has a very close relationship with Russia.” “I do not see India as an ally,” Downer said. “I see it in the way that I would say obviously the United States is our absolute ally, but I would see Japan almost as an ally. India is a like-minded democracy – that’s how I would see India,” he added, but acknowledged that ” “In the case of China, India has been quite politically stable.” “I think we probably feel that their relationship with China and Russia is a function of history, which is not going to change very quickly,” Downer said. the aggression of the Xi Jinping regime. ” CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION Downer believes that Australia and Japan should continue to build alliances in the region, such as with Singapore and Indonesia, which he believes can one day “dominate the region.” These alliances would add to the already “huge amount” of military force available in the region, with Australia and Japan boasting significant support for US military bases. Should China try to make a more aggressive move in the region – such as trying to invade Taiwan – Downer believes current alliances and military capabilities could repel the effort. “If they were trying to take over Taiwan, it could be fantastically difficult and incredibly expensive in terms of the lives lost and the equipment destroyed and the impact it would have on China already,” he said. Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with an emphasis on national and world news.
