Australian defence minister to visit Japan as 'strategic alignment' grows

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles will travel to Japan on Saturday to meet his counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, and discuss deepening defence ties, his office said on Friday.



Australia wanted to engage early with the new government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Australian officials said, noting the two countries had a "shared vision for our region" and were working to respond to increasingly complex global challenges.



"Our relationship with Japan continues to grow from strength to strength – underpinned by close strategic alignment, mutual ambition and enormous potential," Marles said in a statement ahead of the two-day visit. Japan and China are in their worst diplomatic crisis in years, after Takaichi said last month in parliament that a hypothetical Chinese attack on democratically governed Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.



Australia awarded a A$10 billion ($6.5 billion) contract to Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in August to build warships for Australia, marking Tokyo's most consequential defence sale since ending a military export ban in 2014 as it steps away from postwar pacifism. Marles is scheduled to visit the company's shipyard in Nagasaki, southern Japan, Koizumi said.