The Japan-Australia security declaration and the changing regional security setting: wheels, webs and beyond?

Abstract

The March 2007 Japan-Australia Security Declaration has garnered more than its share of hyperbole. Described variously as an historic milestone for peace or an agreement designed to encircle China; the declaration's actual strategic consequences are somewhat unclear. The purpose of this article is to provide a critical analysis of the security declaration and to assess its impact in the context of the changing patterns of the region's security setting. Some have argued that it marks a small but qualitatively significant shift in the essential features of the regional security architecture. The article assesses this claim and argues that while the declaration is of some diplomatic importance, and clearly contributes to improving cooperation in disaster relief and other humanitarian operations, it is of little strategic significance to the broader patterns of East Asian security over the short to medium term. Each side's operational constraints, their different strategic priorities, most obviously their perceptions of China, as well as the continued military predominance of the US, means that the agreement will be of little immediate significance for East Asian security. That said, it remains an important development for the respective parties and is a leading edge indicator of broader forces for change that are increasingly present in East Asia.

Notes

1. This article was completed prior to the sudden resignation of PM Abe in September 2007.

2. Interviews with senior policy-makers, Tokyo, May 2007.

3. A notable exception being Mulgan (2007).

4. Interestingly, it appears the both sides see the declaration as something which they can use as leverage in the on-going FTA negotiations. It remains to be seen how this will play itself out.

5. Involving the US, Japan and Australia.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nick Bisley

Nick Bisley is Associate Professor in International Relations at La Trobe University. He is the author of Rethinking Globalization (2007) and The End of the Cold War and the Causes of Soviet Collapse (2004). He is currently working on a manuscript on the changing role of great power diplomacy