By Ankit Panda
The leaders of the three countries met on the sidelines of the 2014 G20 meeting in Brisbane, Australia.
For the first time since 2007, the leaders of the United States, Australia, and Japan met on the sidelines of the G20 conference in Brisbane, Australia and agreed to deepen their military cooperation. Specifically, U.S. President Barack Obama, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to deepen their cooperation on maritime security. The meeting took place despite its potential to antagonize Beijing, which complains of U.S.-allied states in the Asia-Pacific aspiring to “contain” its rise. The meeting between the three allies came a week after the U.S. and China concluded a landmark agreement on climate change, and after Japan and China held high-level diplomatic meetings for the first time in nearly two years.
The three leaders issued a joint statement following the meeting in which they noted that they had agreed to ”deepen the already strong security and defense cooperation” between themselves. The U.S., Australia, and Japan conduct maritime exercises together and share intelligence. The joint statement emphasized their bid to boost ”maritime security capacity building,” and emphasized the need for the “peaceful resolution of maritime disputes in accordance with international law.” In addition to maritime security, the three leaders addressed another persistent security threat in Asia, namely North Korea’s nuclear program. They resolved to continue to work toward ”eliminating the North Korean nuclear and missile threat” and “addressing human rights in North Korea including the abductions issue.” The abduction issue was likely included in the statement at the insistence of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe’s government has been engaging North Korea diplomatically on the abductions issue over the past year.
Read the full story at The Diplomat