Ambassador Shingo Yamagami also rebutted suggestions that the Australian government had mismanaged its relationship with China,saying Japan had endured Beijing’s trade strikes and periods of diplomatic hostility in the past.
![Japanese Ambassador Yamagami Shingo says deterrence is at the heart of Australia’s and Japan’s deepening defence relationship.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/66d6119c8b7a7be77ae1e2ce3c06be8432d11890)
Japanese Ambassador Yamagami Shingo says deterrence is at the heart of Australia’s and Japan’s deepening defence relationship.Alex Ellinghausen
The Department of Defence is reviewing the Northern Territory’s – a deal that has unsettled national security figures in the federal government since it was signed six years ago.
“Could it happen in Japan? I cannot imagine the same to take place in ports like Sasebo or Yokosuka. I can’t imagine that,” Mr Yamagami told the National Press Club in Canberra.
“But it’s a decision for the Australian government to make,so as the Japanese ambassador to Australia I am making a rule not to poke my nose into the domestic politics of both Australia and Japan.”
The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age revealed in May that cabinet’s national security committee had asked the Defence Department to
This could result in the company,owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng,having to divest the strategically important asset on national security grounds under passed in 2018.
The relationship between China and Australia has deteriorated to its lowest level in decades over the past 18 months with China imposing more than $20 billion of trade strikes on Australia after it called for an independent global inquiry into the outbreak of COVID-19.
Critics of the way the federal government has handled the relationship,including the federal Opposition,have raised the case of Japan as an example of a country which is critical of Beijing but still maintains high levels of diplomatic engagement.
Mr Yamagami said he disagreed with the comparison because “the nutshell of that argument is that Japan is doing far better than Australia. My simple answer is ‘no way’.”
He raised the example of China unofficially banning the exports of rare earths to Japan during a diplomatic standoff between the two countries over a boat collision in the East China Sea.
“I don’t subscribe to such an argument... Australia,Japan,the United States - like-minded countries - have to get together to join forces to address these challenges caused by the rise of this emerging power,” Mr Yamagami said.
“So don’t worry,you are doing an excellent job.”
He also warned of growing tensions in the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait caused by Beijing’s growing assertiveness,saying Australia and Japan would needed to increase joint defence exercises in the area.
“The geopolitical environment today cannot,and should not,be understood in the Cold War era binary terms. What we face are the challenges caused by the rise of emerging powers... Australia and Japan are frontline states.”
Australia and Japan were among a coalition of countries which this week took the rare step of formally