Japan Clashes With China, Deepens Ties With Australia

TaiwanPlus News

Japan and China are at odds once again after Tokyo says Chinese fighter jets aimed their radar beams at Japanese jets on Saturday near Okinawa. Amid those tensions, Tokyo is deepening its defense ties with Canberra.

Transcript

00:00China and Japan are at odds once again.

00:03Tokyo says that Chinese fighter jets that were flying near Okinawa on Saturday aimed

00:09their radar beams at Japanese warplanes.

00:12It slammed China and called these actions dangerous.

00:15Using radar in this way is seen as a threatening gesture, as it could signal a potential attack.

00:21But China has denied Japan's account, saying its military had been holding routine training

00:27exercises in the area.

00:29It blames Japan's forces, saying they kept dangerously approaching China's exercises.

00:34This comes amid worsening relations between the two countries, after Japan's prime minister

00:39last month warned Tokyo could respond militarily to a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

00:44Since then, China has lashed out, telling its tourists not to travel to Japan and restricting

00:50Japanese seafood imports.

00:52But as its relations with China sour, Japan appears to be deepening its ties with other

00:57countries, who are also alarmed by the rising tensions and China's growing military activities.

01:03Japanese and Australian defense ministers met on Sunday to talk about Indo-Pacific security

01:08and Taiwan.

01:09In the discussions of regional affairs during our meeting, the situation regarding China

01:15and Taiwan was also addressed.

01:17In that context, we once again expressed our grave concern over the situation in the East

01:22China Sea and the South China Sea, and reaffirmed our strong opposition to any unilateral attempts

01:28to alter the status quo by force or coercion.

01:31We do not want to see any change to the status quo across the Taiwan Straits.

01:38In general terms, Minister Koizumi and I spoke about the way in which Australia and Japan can

01:45work together to assert the rules-based order and provide for the peace and stability of the

01:51Indo-Pacific.

01:52They also announced plans to deepen defense collaboration, including having their defense

01:57and intelligence communities meet every year.

02:00Australia's defense minister said that the two sides are now more strategically aligned

02:05than they've ever been, and made clear that their goals include maintaining peace in the

02:09Indo-Pacific.

02:10Thank you so much for joining us.

02:12Thank you so much for joining us!

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