11/25/2020 Japan-Australia Defense Treaty: US Allies Adapting to New Geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific | Geopolitical Monitor https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/japan-australia-defense-treaty-us-allies-adapt-to-new-geopolitics-of-the-indo-pacific/ 1/3 SITUATION REPORTS - November 24, 2020 Japan and Australia have agreed in principle to a defense treaty that forms part of Tokyo’s three-pronged approach to security and engagement in the Indo-Paciﾕc: 1) strengthening the US-Japan alliance; 2) cultivating new security partnerships; and 3) pragmatic engagement with Indo-Paciﾕc countries through multilateral agreements in trade and infrastructure and connectivity under the Free and Open Indo-Paciﾕc Vision (FOIP) rubric. This agreement should be evaluated alongside the recent signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Japan’s critical leadership in successfully signing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Paciﾕc Partnership (CPTPP), the recent QUAD meeting in October, and Japan’s engagement with the EU through the signing of the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), and the Japan-EU Infrastructure and Connectivity Initiative. These achievements represented a multifaceted approach to security that is meant to embed Japan in the Indo-paciﾕc economic architecture while at the same time creating security partnerships with likeminded countries that can contribute to sustaining a rules-based Indo- Paciﾕc region. In short, it blends engagement and hedging to manage an assertive China, time-honored concerns about abandonment, and the challenges of an intensifying US-China strategic competition. The Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), signed as part of the Japan-Australia defense treaty, represents one of Tokyo’s core pillars for achieving its security objectives: forming deep, institutionalized security ties with likeminded countries. The treaty itself is signiﾕcant as it marks the ﾕrst time in Japan’s post-WWII history that Japan-Australia Defense Treaty: US Allies Adapting to New Geopolitics of the Indo-Paciﾕc By Stephen Nagy