Dec 18 11:04 AM US/Eastern(AP) - TOKYO, Dec. 18 (Kyodo) — Japan and Australia agreed to deepen cooperation such as in international peace activities and promote bilateral information sharing as their foreign and defense ministers met in Tokyo on Thursday evening.
The two countries also agreed to work closely together with the incoming U.S. administration of President-elect Barack Obama and to jointly tackle the ongoing global financial crisis, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told reporters after the so-called "two-plus- two" meeting.
"Australia and Japan have a longstanding, comprehensive economic, strategic and security partnership. Whilst the economic aspect of that partnership is well understood, I think it's the case that the strategic and security aspects of our partnership are underappreciated," Smith said.
Prior to the meeting, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and his Australian counterpart Joel Fitzgibbon signed a new Memorandum of Defense Cooperation that spells out the enhancement of cooperation in multilateral frameworks and collaboration in strategic discussions, and ship and aircraft exercises.
"This marks another milestone in our defense relationship. We can now move forward in tangible and practical ways to ensure that we have closer defense cooperation in promoting peace and stability in our region," Fitzgibbon said of the memorandum at a news conference.
After the two-plus-two meeting, the defense and foreign ministers from both countries issued a joint statement confirming principles toward creating a legal framework for sharing classified information to enhance closer bilateral cooperation and trilateral cooperation including the United States.
Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone told reporters that the ministers agreed on the importance of such information sharing "in an appropriate manner," saying the two countries will begin preparations toward creating a legal framework for that purpose.
The two countries also agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in such fields as nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, as well as humanitarian assistance, according to the joint statement.
Australia reiterated its support for Japan's stance of not giving aid to North Korea until it makes progress in resolving past abductions of Japanese nationals and expressed disappointment at the lack of results at the latest six-party talks on denuclearizing North Korea last week, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.
Smith also said Australia, which was recently floated as a candidate among non-participants of the six-way talks to shoulder Japan's share of fuel aid to North Korea, will not consider giving such assistance until North Korea and the other five nations reach agreement on a protocol for verifying the North's nuclear programs.
Nakasone said he thought it was good that Japan and Australia, both located in the same region, held consultations not just on bilateral issues but also regional and international ones.
"I am convinced that today's meeting further strengthened the Japan- Australia strategic partnership. As allies of the United States, we would like to continue to work with Australia on tackling global issues," he said.
On his part, Nakasone's Australian counterpart Smith said, "One of the important matters we agreed upon is the importance not just of the two-plus-two meetings but of the trilateral strategic dialogue that Australia and Japan have as joint allies of the United States."
The next round of talks will be held in Australia next year.
Earlier in the evening, Hamada and Fitzgibbon held separate talks in which the Japanese defense minister noted Tokyo's continued contribution to U.S.-led antiterrorism efforts in and around Afghanistan through the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, a Japanese Defense Ministry official said.
The new defense memorandum updates the Memorandum on Defense Exchanges, signed by the two countries in September 2003. The expansion of cooperation agreed under the new defense memorandum consists of three pillars.
The first is the promotion of cooperation in international peace cooperation activities, such as U.N. peacekeeping operations, emergency relief activities and efforts to prevent the proliferation of banned weapons under the so-called Proliferation Security Initiative.
The second pillar is strengthening security collaboration in the trilateral framework involving the United States, as well as cooperation and discussions in multilateral security frameworks.
The third is the expanded unit-level exchanges through the participation in bilateral and multilateral exercises, and through exercises involving the air and naval forces of the two countries.
The two-plus-two security talks, involving the foreign and defense ministers from both sides, resemble similar talks on security and foreign policy issues between Japan and the United States.
This was the second round of the Japan-Australia talks, after they were launched in Japan in June last year.
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