Australia supports Japan's drive to expand use of its military
Australia backed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to expand the use of his country's military, hailing it as a "more normal defence posture", a day after Tokyo and Canberra stepped up ties.
Australia yesterday backed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to expand the use of his country's military, hailing it as a "more normal defence posture", a day after Tokyo and Canberra stepped up ties.
Shinzo Abe is pushing to reinterpret Japan's strict pacifist constitution to allow its well-equipped armed forces to fight in defence of an ally, something currently barred.
But he faces opposition at home from those attached to the decades-old constitutional ideal, as well as criticism from China, which accuses him of seeking to remilitarise Japan.
"Australia can see great benefits to our country and to our region, should Japan continue to play a greater constructive role in global and regional peace and security," Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in Tokyo.
Referring to military cooperation in past peacekeeping operations in Iraq, South Sudan and other countries, Bishop said: "Any decision by Japan to exercise that right to collective self-defence would only help our cooperation grow stronger."
Video: Japan, Australia eye closer military ties, talk submarines wary of China