Post #6051

🇯🇵🇦🇺Tokyo and Canberra Deepen Supply Chain and Defense Ties Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi and Australian PM Anthony Albanese met in Canberra on May 4, issuing five outcome documents including a joint declaration on economic security, with commitments to secure stable supplies of critical minerals, energy, and food. Both leaders cited concerns over export restrictions on rare earths — a direct reference to China's tightened controls — and disruptions to oil flows linked to the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict. China mines roughly 70% of global rare earths and refines ~90%, leaving Japan heavily exposed. Beijing's recent dual-use export restrictions are widely linked to Takaichi's November parliamentary remarks on potential SDF deployment in a Taiwan contingency. Australia, Japan's largest LNG supplier and a major rare earth producer, faces its own import vulnerabilities following decades of domestic refinery closures. The two sides also confirmed contracts for the first three of 11 Mogami-class frigates to be jointly delivered for the Australian navy. The leaders agreed to develop concrete measures ahead of their next meeting to institutionalize comprehensive security cooperation, spanning defense, cybersecurity, and economic security. #Japan#Australia @asianomics