Tony Abbott describes Japan as 'exemplary international citizen'
Prime minister affirms Australia's backing for loosening restrictions on Japan's military
Daniel Hurst in Canberra, Tuesday 8 July 2014 05.52 EDT
Shinzo Abe and Tony Abbott sign the Japan-Australia economic agreement and the agreement on the transfer of defence equipment and technology. Photograph: Mark Graham/AFP/Getty
Tony Abbott has strongly affirmed Australia’s backing for loosening restrictions on Japan’s military, saying it deserved to be welcomed “as a normal country in the family of nations” – despite opposition from neighbouring China.
The Australian prime minister, in a joint media conference with his visiting counterpart, Shinzo Abe, praised Japan as an “exemplary international citizen” that deserved to be judged on its actions now rather than its wartime conduct 70 years ago.
Abbott reiterated his support for Japan to reinterpret its post-second world war pacifist constitution, hours after Abe became the first Japanese prime minister to
address the Australian parliament in Canberra. The pair also signed a trade deal to cut tariffs and increase investment between the two countries and concluded an agreement on the transfer of defence equipment and technology.
The developments have the potential to raise tension with China, Australia’s largest trading partner.
Abe’s cabinet decided last week to end Japan's longstanding ban on exercising collective self-defence – coming to the aid of an ally under attack even if Japan itself is not threatened – a move that China warned
could jeopardise regional peaceand security.
Abbott alluded to China’s sensitivity about the prospect of greater military cooperation between Japan and Australia, telling parliament it was “a partnership for peace, for prosperity and for the rule of law” rather than “a partnership against anyone”.
After signing the trade and defence deals, Abbott stood alongside Abe and declared that Japan – Australia’s second-largest trading partner – deserved to be given “a fair go”.
“Japan should be judged on its actions today, not on its actions 70-odd years ago and Japan has been an exemplary international citizen in the post-war era,” Abbott said.
“These are the standards by which Japan should be judged … because Japan today is a radically different country than it was 70 years ago.
As Shinzo made crystal clear in the parliament today, the lessons of the past have been well and truly learnt and they will never ever be forgotten – they won’t be forgotten by Australia and they certainly won’t be forgotten by Japan.
“At every step of the way since 1945 Japan has been a country which has acted in accordance with the rule of law … Japan has been first-class international citizen [and] I welcome its full participation in the family of nations; its full participation as a normal country in the family of nations.”
Abe said his cabinet’s security decision on 1 July would allow Japan “to play a more proactive role in the international community”. He said Japan was keen to improve its relationship with China and the door for dialogue was “always open from the Japanese side”.
Abe said he and Abbott had also “discussed China’s attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo” – a reference to recent territorial disputes.
“China, along with Japan and Australia, should play a greater role for peace and prosperity in the Asia Pacific region – China to share and accept international norms and to play a concerted role in the region,” Abe said. “That is what I’m hoping China will do.”
Abe underlined to potential for greater co-operation between Australia and Japan on numerous fronts, including joint training exercises alongside the US. A
disagreement over whaling was the only sign of disagreement when Abbott and Abe faced the press.
The Australian Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said the friendship with Japan ran “deeper than treaties or trade agreements, summits or state dinners”, casting it as “a partner in prosperity and a partner in peace”.
But a Labor backbencher, Sam Dastyari, warned of dangers in Australia’s positioning in disputes between China and Japan. “It's very important that we, as a nation, not be seen to be taking sides in disputes involving China and increasingly this government is giving the impression that they're taking sides,” Dastyari told Sky News.
The defence minister, David Johnston, said the defence agreement would pave the way for the nations to work more closely to identify potential areas of future research interest and mutual benefit, in the fields of defence science, technology and equipment.
The leaders also locked in the trade deal, described as an economic partnership agreement rather than a free trade agreement, three months after Abbott announced the conclusion of negotiations on a trip to Japan in April.
Abbott said Japan would gain better access to the Australian market for its manufactured goods while Australia would gain better access for beef, dairy, wine, horticulture and grain products. But Labor and the Greens have expressed doubts about the quality of the deal, in light of the government’s decision not to commission modelling on the economic impact of the negotiated outcomes.
The
full text of the deal was published for the first time on Tuesday afternoon, although key details became known months ago – with some Australian agricultural industries expressing disappointment on the lack of progress in cutting trade barriers in their areas.
Australia’s trade minister, Andrew Robb, said the agreement would go to both nations’ parliaments and the treaties committee would consider it before it came into force.
Robb told the ABC the deal would deliver great benefits to the services industry, while Meat and Livestock Australia had “done its own modelling” estimating a $5.5bn total benefit to the beef industry over 20 years.
“This will generate over the next 10, 20, 30 years literally hundreds of thousands of jobs,” Robb said.
Labor’s senate leader and trade spokeswoman, Penny Wong, said these figures were “little more than ‘guesstimates’ ” in light of confirmation by officials at a senate estimates hearing last month that the government had
made a decision at a ministerial level not to commission economic modelling.
The Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said it was also unclear how the agreement would interact with the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations which were yet to conclude.
The Business Council of Australia and the Australian Mines and Metals Association were among groups that welcomed the signing of the deal, saying it would strengthen ties with a valuable trading partner. But the independent South Australian senator Nick Xenophon said the Japan agreement was a “costly and secretive folly” that would hasten the demise of Australia’s struggling automotive components sector.
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