The 11th Format 2+2 meeting was held in Queenscliff, Victoria on 5 September. As a reminder, this type of event was established in 2007. The meeting was attended by the country’s foreign and defence ministers Penny Wong and Richard Marles and their Japanese counterparts Yōko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara.
The 11th Format 2+2 meeting was held in Queenscliff, Victoria on 5 September. As a reminder, this type of event was established in 2007.
The meeting was attended by the country’s foreign and defence ministers Penny Wong and Richard Marles and their Japanese counterparts Yōko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara.
The last meeting took place in December 2022, which is considered almost the most successful in the process of bilateral rapprochement. In that year, the trend towards a dramatic increase in “defence and security” became clear. In early January 2022, Prime Ministers Scott Morrison and Fumio Kishida signed the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) via video conference. This document allowed combat units of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) to remain in Australia to participate in certain exercises.
In October of the same year, F. Kishida met with Anthony Albanese in Perth, Australia. The “Joint Declaration”, adopted as a result of the talks at that time, became a fundamental document for the further development of bilateral cooperation in the field of “defence and security”.
In this context, the 11th meeting of the Japan-Australia Format 2+2, which is the subject of this article, focused on the implementation of the key provisions of the Joint Declaration.
Japan and the challenge of Australia’s frigate fleet renewal
In February 2024, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles announced the launch of an international tender for the purchase of 11 advanced frigates worth a total of $11 billion. Companies from Germany, France, Spain, Japan and the Republic of Korea are expected to participate.
The Australian Navy currently has eight ANZAC class frigates, which were designed in the early 1990s on the basis of the MEKO 200 frigate by the German company Blohm und Voß. They were under construction until 2006. We can therefore conclude that this is a “renewal” of the ship’s composition, as well as a significant increase in the capacity of the Australian Navy.
This is fully in line with the new version of the National Defence Strategy (NDS), the main provisions of which were outlined by R. Marles in April 2024. Particular attention is drawn in this document to the significant expansion of the range of tasks and sea space in which the future Australian Navy will operate.
Commentators on the above-mentioned message of the country’s Deputy Prime Minister recall that something similar was observed ten years ago. At that time, a tender to equip the Australian Navy with new diesel-electric submarines was announced with the same foreign bidders. In 2017, the French Naval Group was declared the winner in the battle for the contract, even though the diesel-electric Sōryū submarine from Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries looked more favourable in terms of tactical and technical characteristics. It has been suggested that the failure of the latter was mainly due to the Japanese military-industrial complex’s lack of experience in competitive arms trading on international markets. It is argued that the failure of the latter was mainly due to the Japanese military-industrial complex’s lack of experience in competitive arms trading on international markets.
However, the French winners’ joy at winning a huge contract (estimated at between $60 billion and $90 billion) was short-lived. In September 2021, the creation of AUKUS was accompanied by the cancellation of the contract with France and its subsequent transfer to Australia’s two “big brothers”, who undertook to build nuclear-powered submarines. This was a symbol of the further strengthening of defence and security cooperation between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia in the Indo-Pacific region.
In the same context of the growing importance of defence and security in Australia’s relations with Japan, one should also consider the priority that Canberra is now giving to the latest frigate Mogami, built by the same Japanese company, MHI, in the above-mentioned plans for the renewal of Australia’s surface fleet. Incidentally, the photos of this ship show the same “low-observable Unified Complex Radio Antenna (UNICORN)” that interested the naval command, but also India, during the Japan-India “Format 2+2” held in New Delhi two weeks earlier.
If Japan is successful in this bid, it will be the first major breakthrough of the country’s military-industrial complex into the international arms market, which will undoubtedly help to revive the interest of the national economy in this area of investment, which it seemed to be abandoning.
Outcome of the 11th Format 2+2 Meeting between Japan and Australia
At the opening ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister R. Marles reminded the guests that he was receiving them at Fort Queenscliff, which in the past had played a role in the country’s fortification system. Apparently a little carried away, he also said that “there is no country in the world with which we have closer strategic ties than Japan”. As if such a statement would not offend the two “older brothers”, who are also the companions of the “younger” in AUKUS.
However, it is worth noting the reservation of the second person in the current Australian government, who also noted the special role of the outgoing F. Kishida in building bilateral relations. In the speeches of all four participants in the forthcoming meeting, a number of recently established memes were present as sources of concern. They mentioned the “growing military cooperation between China and Russia”, the former’s “risky actions” towards the Philippines and Taiwan, as well as in the South and East China Seas in general. Meanwhile, Japan and Australia themselves were described as “two great democracies” concerned about the “undermining of rules and institutions”.
The main contents of the comprehensive Joint Statement are decisions concerning, for example, the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.
The basis for further development of bilateral cooperation in the sphere of “defence and security” is the above-mentioned “Joint Declaration” of 2022. The main multilateral configuration for solving problems in this sphere should be the “USA-Japan-Australia” triangle, which is also assigned the role of a centre of attraction for other countries. Of these, India, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines and the Pacific countries deserve special attention. Japan’s involvement in the development of advanced military technologies, in which AUKUS will now be involved, is also mentioned.
In summary, two points should be noted. First, the negative reaction to the fact and outcome of the regular Japan-Australia meeting in the “2+2 format” was fully expected by the main addressee, to whom the participants of this event sent unfriendly messages. Second, we should point out that the foreign policy course of Japan and Australia is in the process of formation, and the event discussed here is still one of the significant events in this “transition” process.
Much will depend on the development of the situation in the region as a whole, the nature of which can hardly be reasonably predicted today.
Vladimir TEREKHOV, an expert on the problems of the Asia-Pacific region, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”
