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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