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The United States can count on regional partnerships with Japan and Australia to thwart China’s ambitions in the region as the two Indo-Pacific countries develop closer ties and more stable 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 in fact we have for years,” former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Fox News Digital. “[China] under Xi Jinping, he became incredibly aggressive and tried to dominate the region, and this would completely destabilize the region if they did. We need to make sure that China understands that we are happy to work with China and sell to China, but we will not be harassed by China. ”
The United States faces a difficult and complex effort to test China’s regional ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region. Earlier, officials told Fox News Digital that the United States relied on overlapping bilateral agreements to establish similar cooperation, which most of Europe uses through NATO.
Leaders of the Quadratic 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 in the entrance hall of the Prime Minister’s Office in Japan. Japan, Tuesday, May 24, 2022 (Sadayuki Goto / Kyodo News via AP) (Sadayuki Goto / Kyodo News via AP)
Downer argues that it is best to act on the assumption that China’s political system “will not change between now and when I die.”
The most reliable form of deterrence in America remains the quadripartite security dialogue (or QUAD) between the United States, Japan, Australia and India. QUAD does not have the same military commitments as NATO, but China still condemns it as “Asian NATO”.
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“QUAD came out of what we originally called a tripartite security dialogue with the United States, Australia and Japan, and India was added to it by the Japanese, in fact very sensibly,” Downer said. “Japan was a very, very reliable ally in the Indo-Pacific region, in fact for Australia, as well as for the United States.
Ambassador Mikio Mori, Consul General of Japan in New York, told Fox News Digital that apart from its treaty alliance with the United States, Japan has no “best” ally in the region, instead relying on a mosaic of partnerships with various partners. who perform different roles.
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U.S. President Joe Biden front, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, front right, listen to the national anthem during President Biden’s welcoming ceremony at the Akasaka Palace State House in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko, Pool) (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
But the United States sees Japan-Australia relations as a critical component of its policy of deterring China in the Indo-Pacific region. Former Japanese State Director Kevin Maher told Fox News Digital that “aside from the United States”, Australia is “obviously” the most important link with Japan.
He highlighted Japan’s role as a leader in the region in terms of “China awareness”, but acknowledged that Australia and Japan have made that commitment together.
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China’s One Belt, One Road initiative, through which Beijing invests in smaller developing countries, has helped China gain influence over “second- and third-tier countries” that are important to the supply chain, especially for ” military areas, cyber hacking and acquiring companies Beijing even cut off Japan from rare earth resources as alleged revenge for a fishing boat and water dispute in 2010. Japan at the time became almost entirely dependent on China for those metals.
Since then, Japan has been working to expand its military capabilities, which the US government “approves of.” Japan currently boasts some of its biggest military spending, spending about $ 49 billion a year – seventh place ahead of Russia and South Korea, but behind the United Kingdom and Germany.
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In this photo from October 16, 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, face and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands with leaders at the BRICS summit in Goa, India. At least three Indian soldiers, including a senior 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 facing more than a month, the Indian military said. The military said in a statement on Tuesday (June 16th) 2020 that “a violent clash with casualties on both sides” had taken place in the Galvan Valley in the Ladakh region on Monday night. (AP Photo / Manish Swarup, file)
“In 2015, the then prime minister changed his basic policy to allow so-called collective self-defense,” Maher explained. “Until then, operational planning … was very limited because they could only do what is called individual self-defense, which means that they were limited to actions to protect Japan.
The “collective defense” measure qualifies in situations where Japan is facing an “existential crisis”, defined in Article 2 of its constitution as an “armed attack on a foreign country that is closely related to Japan”, and as a result happens, threatens Japan’s survival. “
“This is a direct attack on Japan, for example, the Taiwan Strait scenario or the Korean Peninsula scenario,” Maher said. “So there’s a lot more blended learning and blended planning between the United States and Japan.”
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The biggest regional uncertainty remains India’s position and ranking in the region: Downer expressed concern about India’s position, saying it “still has very close relations with Russia.”
“I don’t see India as an ally,” Downer said. “I see it in the way that I would say that the United States is obviously our ultimate ally, but I would see Japan as very close to an ally. “India is a democracy with like-minded people – that’s how I would see India,” he added, but acknowledged that “on the issue of China, India is quite solid politically.”
“I think we probably think their relationship with China and Russia is a feature of history that will not change very quickly,” Downer said, adding that it remained important “to support India on our side in dealing with the aggression of Xi Jinping’s regime. ”
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Downer believes that Australia and Japan must continue to build coalitions in the region, such as with Singapore and Indonesia, which he says may one day “dominate the region.”
These alliances will contribute to the already “huge amount” of military force available in the region, with Australia and Japan boasting significant support for US military bases. If China tries to take a more aggressive move in the region – as an attempt to invade Taiwan – Downer believes that current alliances and military capabilities could repel the effort.
“If they try to take over Taiwan, it can be fantastically difficult and incredibly costly in terms of the lives lost and the equipment destroyed and the impact it will have on China,” he said.
Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter focusing on national and global news.
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