Brennan wrote - That's right. JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT there was a security agreement signed between Japan and Australia in 2007. Intention is to counter Chinese influence and continuing strength.Dick Cheney hoped to get India into a similar arrangement.
So it's not just the trade issues that create a barrier to ending Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean but the SECURITY AGREEMENT between Australia and Japan.
OPINION: OPINION: Thus if you had fantasies that an Australian or NZ naval vessel would board the Shonan Maru 2 and arrest the captain then you can see the ties make that unlikely BUT completely legal and what should happen.The individual should do jail time. Post a comment and I'll give you the legal basis if interested enough.
Subject: Defense pact with Australia eyed
maruben 9/21/2009 9:07:22 AM
Monday, Sept. 21, 2009
http://www.strategypage.com/militaryforums/30-106338.aspx
EXCERPT:
Defense pact with Australia eyed
Accord would cover logistic support but opposition expected from coalition member SDP
Kyodo News
Japan is considering signing a defense supply agreement with Australia that would enable the two countries to share food, fuel and other material and services, government sources said Sunday.
Tokyo currently only has this type of pact, called an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, with the United States. A similar agreement with Canberra would help the Self-Defense Forces expand their scope of international cooperation but could face resistance from the Social Democratic Party, a member of the ruling coalition.
The SDP, a junior partner of the Democratic Party of Japan and a champion of the war-renouncing Constitution, has been critical of sending the SDF on overseas missions.
Japan and Australia held defense ministerial talks last December and signed a memorandum of understanding calling for enhanced cooperation between the SDF and the Australian military in international peace efforts and antiterrorism activities.
The two countries have also been stepping up mutual visits of top uniformed defense officials.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Australian Navy conducted a joint drill for the first time Thursday off the coast of Japan.
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers22%5Cpaper2191.html
JAPAN-AUSTRALIA DEFENCE AGREEMENT: PERSPECTIVES
By Dr. Subhash Kapila
Introductory Observations
EXCERPT:
The preceding visit of US Vice President, Dick Cheney to Japan and Australia in the run-in to the signing of this Defense Agreement is significant. He was forthright in expressing that the unrestrained rise of China’s military might necessitated these “military trilaterals” or “military quadrilaterals”, at least in words to this effect. The “Quadrilateral” seeks to embrace India as the fourth player.
The Australia-Japan Security Agreement: Between a Rock and a Hard Place?
http://www.glocom.org/debates/20070322_taylor_australia/index.html
Brendan Taylor (Lecturer in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University)
________________________________________
EXCERPT: Australia and Japan have just signed an historic security agreement. This new pact formalizes the security cooperation that began in secret between the two nations in the 1970s and which has been moving forward in leaps and bounds since the early 1990s. It specifies a number of areas for security cooperation, including counter-terrorism, maritime and aviation security, peace operations, and disaster relief. It foreshadows further intelligence collaboration and high-level strategic dialogue. While the agreement itself is not binding, the prospect of a formal security treaty between Australia and Japan has been floated.
Australia and Japan are natural allies. They are liberal democracies with similar economic and political values. They are the U.S.'s closest security partners in the Asia-Pacific. And like the United States, they are essentially "outsiders" in this part of the world. Samuel Huntington has described Australia as a "torn country," a society divided over whether it belongs to Asia. Despite Japan's geographical location, Huntington describes it not as an Asian power, but as "a society and civilization unique to itself."
Canberra and Tokyo have been building an impressive record of collaboration, especially since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks