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Japan and Australia were set Tuesday to sign a landmark security pact which Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said was not aimed at containing a rapidly growing China.
Abe was to sign the security cooperation pact with visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard, which would be only the second such deal for officially pacifist Japan after its alliance with the United States.
The bilateral agreement would boost cooperation in peacekeeping, emergency relief and counter-terrorism.
Howard met early Tuesday with Japanese Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma and said the cooperation would not infringe upon Japan's 1947 constitution, which forbade Tokyo from engaging in war.
“As we look to the future, it would be important for Australian and Japanese forces, in different ways consistent with the constitution of Japan, to work together more frequently and more closely in providing security in our region,” Howard said.
Both Abe and Howard have insisted that the pact is not aimed at China, which has sparked concern in Japan and the United States with its rapidly growing military spending.
The agreement “is not aimed at containing China and does not have China in view,” Abe said in an interview with Australian media, as quoted by his office.
He noted that Japan already has a “framework” through ASEAN Plus Three, a forum that groups Japan, China, South Korea and the 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc.
“Japan and China have agreed to establish a strategic, mutual relationship,” Abe said.
“By establishing multi-layered political frameworks, the Asia-Pacific region can develop based on close cooperation and on shared views,” Abe said.
Abe has worked since taking office last September to ease tensions with China. But the conservative leader has also campaigned to shake off the legacies of Japan's World War II defeat.
He has vowed to rewrite the US-imposed constitution and build a four-way alliance with fellow democracies Australia, India and the United States.
Japan has frequent tension with closer neighbours China and South Korea due largely to the legacy of Tokyo's wartime imperialism.
Abe recently sparked outrage by saying there was no evidence Japan directly coerced sex slaves into World War II army brothels.
