China warns of ‘inevitable countermeasures’ over Australia-Japan defence deal

[Nilgiri]

Sky News Australia Video Description:

China’s propaganda arm the Global Times has warned Australia and Japan are “tools” of the US who will pay a “price” if a new deal to boost their defence partnership poses a threat.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison struck an “in principle” agreement with Japan during a visit to Tokyo – the importance of which he said could not be “understated”.

The Reciprocal Access Agreement will enable Australian ships and aircraft to operate further north and offer greater legal protection for service personnel across both countries.

It will also allow defence forces to move more quickly with less administration and see military cooperation and exercise activities “grow”. In an editorial equating the deal to a “quasi-military alliance”, the Chinese mouthpiece said the agreement was a new “lever for the US to divide Asia” and construct an “Asian version of NATO”.

“The US is using its two anchors in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Japan and Australia, to push forward the construction of an ‘Asian version of NATO’,” the Global Times said.

“China is unlikely to remain indifferent to US moves aimed at inciting countries to gang up against China in the long run.

“Countries like Japan and Australia have been used as US tools. The strategic risk for a tool to be damaged is certainly higher than that of a user. “It's inevitable that China will take some sort of countermeasures.

“They will surely pay a corresponding price if China's national interests are infringed upon and its security is threatened.”

 

[Huelague]

Japan must lift their exports on defense goods first.

 

[Nilgiri]

Japan must lift their exports on defense goods first.

It has been lifted. There are now clauses to allow export...and expected to expand further with time.

Japan to relax arms export ban

Japan is to ease its self-imposed arms export ban for the first time in almost 50 years, in a move likely to worry China.

www.bbc.com

Japan Strikes First Arms Export Deal — Can Tokyo Find More Buyers For Its Pricey Weapons?

The $103.5 million sale of air surveillance radars to the Philippines is modern Japan’s first export of a completed defense product, coming six years after the government lifted restrictions on arms sales abroad. Here are other military systems Japan is looking to export, and the hurdles it faces.

www.forbes.com