Japan and Australia agree to further step up defense cooperation under 2-month-old security pact

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan and Australia have agreed to further expand defense ties including with joint military exercises. The defense ties come under an upgraded security pact that took effect two months ago amid their mutual concern about increasingly assertive China. The two countries have rapidly developed close defense ties in recent years. Japan considers Australia as a semi-ally and as its closest security partner after the United States, which is its only treaty ally. Japan’s Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, also agreed during talks in Tokyo to step up their three-way military cooperation with the United States