Japan, Australia to sign security agreement amid China concerns

Bloomberg

Japan and Australia are expected to sign a new security agreement during a visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Perth on Saturday, strengthening ties between the long-time partners amid rising tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.
The new plan would update a previous agreement signed in 2007 under Kishida’s predecessor Shinzo Abe and then-Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Kyodo News of Japan reported. Australia and Japan have been building closer diplomatic and security ties over the past decade, with both sharing concerns over what they see as the assertiveness of an increasingly powerful China in the region.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the new agreement would be more “ambitious” than the 2007 version, which had focused primarily on the threat of terrorism. Since the 2007 agreement was signed, China has rapidly expanded its military and diplomatic footprint, building up artificial islands in the South China Sea and regularly conducting military exercises around the democratically run island of Taiwan.
Australian government officials were not immediately available for comment on the reports.