00:01Look, there are lots of things on the agenda, Joe, but you'd have to say at the top of it
00:06unsurprisingly will be the crisis in the Middle East and the ramifications that's had economically
00:11around the world because of the effective strangulation of the Strait of Hormuz. Now,
00:15because of that, Australia is very worried about its fuel security, particularly because
00:20Asia, the major Asian suppliers that we've often relied on, are looking at massive drops
00:26in the amount of oil that are coming their way. And the fear, of course, is that that
00:30shortage will flow on to Australia. So the point that the Foreign Minister's making on
00:34her trip both to Tokyo as well as to Seoul and to Beijing is pretty similar. Look, if
00:40you want us to continue to supply things like LNG, coal and food to the region, things that
00:45Australia supplies in great abundance across Asia, then we need things like diesel, fertiliser
00:51and petrol to continue to flow to us because we can't produce the things you need otherwise.
00:55And whilst the Foreign Minister denies Australia's using this as any sort of cudgel, she says
01:01that it's simply an expression of reality, that if we don't get that fuel, it will be harder
01:06for us to send things that they need overseas. Let's take a listen to what she had to say.
01:12I think it's an expression of the reality, which is we want to be a reliable supplier. If we are
01:19to be a reliable supplier, we need others to be reliable. And I think that's understood
01:24and certainly after my meetings here in Japan. We know we need each other. We know we depend
01:28on each other. And we know we have to be there for each other.
01:35And Stephen, this comes ahead of a visit to Australia next week by Japan's Prime Minister,
01:40Sanae Takeuchi. What's expected from that?
01:42Dan? Yeah, look, we'll have to wait and see what comes out of this. This trip has been,
01:47it has to be said, long rumoured, but was now effectively confirmed today by both Australia
01:52and Japan. She'll come to Australia only for a short time. It looks like one big day of
01:56meetings on Monday next week when she'll sit down with the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.
02:01I think if there's any commitments on fuel security that Australia's extracted from Japan,
02:06including from this trip, then we'll probably hear about that early next week rather than from
02:11perhaps the Foreign Minister now. More broadly, both sides have been pretty open about the fact
02:15that they're looking at formalising the relationship in new ways, including most likely
02:19through a declaration on economic security. That would cover not just the supplies of things like
02:25LNG in one direction and fuel to Australia, but also potentially would cover things like critical
02:31minerals, something that Japan wants and Australia has in a fair amount of abundance. So I'd imagine that
02:38will be on the agenda, but we'll have to wait and see exactly what happens next Monday.
02:42And so now back to Penny Wong. After Japan, the Foreign Minister is going to head to China.
02:46Is fuel on the agenda there too?
02:49It is. One type of fuel in particular, Joe, and that is jet fuel. China supplies about 30% of
02:55Australia's jet fuel and has already made it clear that if it's grappling with domestic shortages,
03:00then it will not allow that fuel to go overseas. And that's obviously something Australia
03:05wants to head off, particularly because I think it's particularly worried about those supplies of
03:09jet fuel and diesel over the coming months. So I imagine that will be on the agenda, but there'll
03:15be a whole range of other issues as well. These are annual talks that were actually meant to be held
03:19in December last year. They were pushed back because of the Bondi terror attack. They're now being held
03:24a few months later. So there'll be a whole range of issues discussed, including a series of big
03:29disagreements between Australia and China. One issue that is interesting to note, viewers might
03:36remember last week, there was a fascinating story when Taiwan's president alleged that China
03:42effectively stopped him from visiting Iswatini, its only ally in Africa, by pressuring African countries
03:51in the region to revoke permission of airspace, basically stopping him from travelling there.
03:57That is a new, and from Taiwan's perspective, very worrying development in the relationship.
04:03Australia said last week through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that it was concerned
04:07by the report. But when Penny Wong was asked today by my colleague Natalie Whiting in Tokyo
04:12whether she'd raise that with the foreign minister in China, she didn't answer and simply said
04:19that the stance of Australia was well known. Let's take a listen.
04:23Opposition in relation to China and in relation to Taiwan remains unchanged.
04:29Is that something you'd be looking to discuss?
04:31Opposition remains unchanged.
04:34So two possibilities. One, she's going to raise it privately and doesn't want the media or others
04:39to know about it. Two, she's decided not to raise it at all. Now, if that is the case,
04:44don't know if that is, that might be a reflection of the fact that there's an awful lot of big
04:48problems
04:49the government's grappling with, not least fuel supply. Perhaps it's deciding to pick its battles,
04:54but I imagine that response will not go down well in Taipei.
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