APSNet for 20070315
Austral Peace and Security Network (APSNet)
Twice weekly report from the Nautilus Institute at RMIT, Australia.
Thursday 15 March 2007
- Japan-Australia Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation
- Joint Declaration: Pacific Allies to Enlist India
- UN to Probe Diggers’ Killing of Reinado Men
- Police Corruption Probe Begins in PNG
- Solomons Accepts High Commissioner
- The Costs of America’s Long War
- Australia: Defence Chiefs Need Reining In
Austral Policy Forum 07-07A – The new security architecture: Binding Japan and Australia, containing China – Richard Tanter
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Japan-Australia Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 2007-03-13 [Primary source]
Japan and Australia will strengthen their cooperation and consultation on issues of common strategic interest in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond … Japan and Australia will deepen and expand their bilateral cooperation in the areas of security and defence cooperation with a view to enhancing the effectiveness of their combined contribution to regional and international peace and security, as well as human security.
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Security Accord Flags New Japan, Paul Kelly, Australian, 2007-03-14
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Don’t Lock China Out, Kevin Rudd, Age, 2007-03-14
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Beijing Responds to Australia-Japan Security Accord, ABC, 2007-03-14
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Desmond Ball, Whither the Japan-Australia security relationship? Austral Policy Forum 06-32A 2006-09-21.
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Pacific Allies to Enlist India, Dennis Shanahan, Australian, 2007-03-15
Australia has been approached to dramatically upgrade its three-way security arrangements with Japan and the US to include India in a four-way security agreement that would encircle China. The Japanese Government and US Vice-President Dick Cheney are keen to include India in the already enhanced “trilateral” security arrangements.
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UN to Probe Diggers’ Killing of Reinado Men, AAP, Age, 2007-03-14
UN police will hold an official inquiry into the deaths of five East Timorese killed by Australian troops during an attempt to capture fugitive rebel Major Alfredo Reinado. The inquiry is expected to look at the Australian troops’ rules of engagement in the clash. However, UN media representative Allison Cooper said such an inquiry was “standard practice”.
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Police Corruption Probe Begins in PNG, ABC, 2007-03-14
A major investigation into corrupt practices by senior police officers in PNG is under way. PNG Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has endorsed the probe into the country’s police hierarchy. The investigation will look into relationships between senior police officers and the owners of gambling machines and casinos.
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Solomons Accepts High Commissioner, Lloyd Jones, News.com.au, 2007-03-14
The Solomon Islands Prime Minister has launched another scathing attack on Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, but has finally agreed to recognise Australia’s new High Commissioner to the country. For weeks Manasseh Sogavare has kept diplomat Peter Hooton waiting in Honiara for an appointment to formally present his credentials to the Solomons Government, so he can do his job.
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PM Calls for RAMSI Outreach Program to Stop, Geraldine Coutts with Dorothy Wickham, ABC, 2007-03-14
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The Costs of America’s Long War, Paul Rogers, OpenDemocracy, 2007-03-08
The US planned defence spending reveals both its military ambition and its fear of losing control of an unruly world. The core budget for 2008 is expected to be $481.4 billion, compared with $441.5 billion for 2006; but the “supplemental” requests to cope with the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan push the figures even higher – from a total budget of $557.3 billion in 2007 to $645.6 billion in 2008.
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Budgeting for Iraq and the GWOT, Testimony to Committee on the Budget, Gordon Adams, United States Senate, 2006-02-06 [Primary Source, PDF]
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Defence Chiefs Need Reining In, Editorial, AFR*, 2007-03-13
The government needs to consider whether its funding practices are not part of the problem rather than part of the solution. There is legitimate concern that some of Defence’s problems stem from insufficient fiscal discipline. The AFR reports today, defence projects worth up to $10 billion are more than a year behind schedule, in some cases many years, and federal cabinet is expected to sign off on another $23 billion of major defence projects in the next three years.
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Most Defence Deals Up To Date: Nelson, John Kerin, AFR*, 2007-03-14
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Austral Policy Forum 07-07A: The new security architecture: Binding Japan and Australia, containing China – Richard Tanter
Richard Tanter from the Nautilus Institute at RMIT writes that “the defence pact between Australia and Japan confirms already accelerating tendencies for both Japan and Australia to militarize their foreign policies”, and forms the core of “a nascent anti-China US-dominated multilateral alliance system”. Tanter argues “Australia’s decision to emphasize the military dimension of its relationship with Japan, in mutual concert with the United States, above an insistence on serious Japanese commitment to its claim to be a country based ‘on democratic values, a commitment to human rights, freedom and the rule of law’, demonstrates a profoundly imbalanced and imprudent understanding of the true interests and concerns of the peoples of both countries.”