Australia, Japan to Pursue 'More Complex' Joint Military Drills

On Friday, Australia’s Defense Minister Richard Marles said, after a meeting in Tokyo, that Australia and Japan would look for ways to carry out "more complex" joint military exercises.

Marles’ meeting with his Japanese counterpart Yasukazu Hamada, who was also attended by the foreign ministers of the two countries, followed the signing of a bilateral security agreement in October, when the two countries agreed at that time to cooperate in the field of intelligence and deepen their relations in the field of defense, to confront the growing strength of the Chinese army.

During the meeting, the Australian minister mentioned that the security agreement with Japan, as well as other agreements, allow advancing the strategic alignment between both countries.

"We've spent today thinking of ways in which we can operationalise that," he said in a four-way announcement,” Marles said.

"There are a range of opportunities that exist which we will be pursuing where our two militaries can work closely together to do more high-end exercises and more complex exercises."

Australia also welcomed the "means" that allow to ensure that Australia, the US and Japan work together in three areas which are land defense, sea defense and air defense.

On his part, Yasukazu did not directly comment on the invitation to participate in the trilateral exercises in Australia, but Hamada said, “the cooperation between Australia and Japan, together with that of our ally the United States and other like-minded countries, is of vital importance.”