Japan looks to Australia, India to sustain defence readiness

Koizumi will embark on his three-day trip from Tuesday, according to Japanese media reports citing defence officials.

In Canberra, he is expected to hold a trilateral defence ministers’ meeting with his Australian and New Zealand counterparts to discuss the proposed export of an upgraded Japanese Mogami-class frigate to Wellington.

In New Delhi, Koizumi will meet Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss cooperation on defence equipment, including Japan’s planned export of its Unicorn stealth communication system.

Rintaro Inoue, research fellow at the Institute of Geoeconomics think tank in Tokyo, said that until recently, Japan assumed it could rely heavily on America in a contingency.