Abstract
The united front between Japan and Australia shows both countries are on the same strategic page about maintaining order and preventing Chinese domination in the Indo-Pacific region. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s visit this week to Tokyo neatly bookends the Trump years in our Indo-Pacific region. How so? Japan and Australia have deepened their security ties, enabling them to present a united front to engage America’s incoming Biden administration. This augments another regional pillar, the India-Japan partnership affirmed when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi journeyed to Tokyo in November 2016. Now in elegant symmetry, the four democracies this week have joined forces for the Malabar naval exercise in the Indian Ocean. Grey hulls arrayed in the sea lanes make a starker statement of quadrilateral solidarity than any euphemism-laden joint communique.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Specialist publication | Financial Review (AFR) |
| Publication status | Published - 2020 |