Deepening Intra-Spoke Relations: The Australia-Japan Security Relationship

When the Japan-Australia Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation (JDSC) was signed in March 2007, it was greeted with reasonable equanimity in both countries. But in the ensuing years as the perspective on this agreement and its ramifications shifted from the bilateral to the regional context, opinions on the evolving Australia-Japan security relationship have begun to diverge. When we locate the JDSC in its post-Cold War setting and in its regional context featuring rising powers and geopolitical tensions, the agreement is interrogated in terms of two variables: what does the JDSC imply about the future nature of U.S. engagement in the Asia-Pacific region; and how will enhanced security relations between these two countries in particular impact on the behavior of each country as a regional security actor? This article elaborates the underlying concerns surrounding the deepening of the Australia-Japan security relationship, and asks whether the recent firm commitments made by the U.S. can be expected to allay or rebut those concerns