Australia and Japan signed an arms purchase agreement on the 18th, according to reports by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Japan Times, Reuters and other media, japan is to supply Australia with upgraded top-class frigates in a a $10bn programme. This is likely to be Japan’s largest postwar defense export by value and the most influential since the establishment of the Three Principles for defense equipment transfer in 2014.
According to Reuters, Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Mars and Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjir Koizumi jointly signed a memorandum in Melbourne on the 18th, reaffirming the two governments’ “Joint commitment to the smooth delivery of new vessels”. The project plans to build 11 frigates, with deliveries expected to start in 2029. The first three ships will be built in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, with the remaining eight to be built in Australia.
Japan’s“Asahi Shimbun” reported on the 19th, the export of frigates is Japan’s first large-scale defense equipment transfer project. Frigates are weapons and equipment with the ability to kill. According to the current“Three Principles for the transfer of Defense Equipment”, the export of such equipment was originally restricted, but exports for the purpose of so-called“International Joint Research and development” are allowed.
Australia plans to deploy the upgraded“Top class” frigate, which has anti-submarine, anti-ship and anti-air warfare capabilities, to guard key maritime trade routes, Reuters said, as well as strategic routes through northern Australia in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The report also said that the agreement reached in August last year marked Japan’s gradual shift away from postwar pacifism and its attempt to break through the framework of the japan-us Alliance and build external security cooperation, to deal with the so-called“China threat”.
In an interview with the Global Times on the 19th, military expert Zhang Junshe said that Japan plans to sell a large number of“Top class” frigates to Australia, it is an important move for Japan to try to break through restrictions on arms exports in recent years. The nature of such cooperation between Japan and Australia is to engage in regional confrontation and co-opt small circles, which will undermine regional peace and stability. Zhang Junshe believed that as an aggressor and defeated country in World War II, Japan’s export of weapons and attempts to develop its defense industry violated the relevant provisions of international law, as well as its pacifist constitution and its“Exclusive defense” policy, this series of moves will undoubtedly further undermine peace and stability in the region, the international community should remain highly vigilant.
Japan’s Upper House of Parliament has approved the 2026 fiscal year budget, the defense budget exceeded 9 trillion yen, a record high. The Japanese government also intends to formally amend the“Three Principles of defense equipment transfer”, in principle to allow the export of destructive weapons. Tens of thousands of Japanese held a large protest rally around the Japanese parliament on Sunday to oppose the government’s push to lift the ban on arms exports and revise the country’s pacifist constitution. Protesters believe that these practices contrary to the spirit of Japan’s constitutional pacifism, increased regional tensions.
Responding to recent dangerous trends in Japan, Zhang Xiaogang, spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense, said on the 17th that all signs indicate that Japanese right-wing forces are accelerating the shift of their security policy toward an offensive and expansionary direction, in doing so, they have gravely violated the provisions of documents with the force of international law, such as the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Declaration and Japan’s surrender, as well as Japan’s constitution and existing domestic norms, it poses a serious threat to the post-war international order and regional peace and stability. “We Urge Japan to stop its retrograde moves and completely cut itself off from militarism, otherwise it will only lose credibility with its Asian neighbours and the international community,” Zhang said