The Australia-Japan security relationship: valuable partnership or much ado about nothing much?

This paper examines the Australia-Japan security relationship, which it notes has substantially expanded since the end of the Cold War. The paper contends that the bilateral partnership has exceeded the limits that would be seen if it were merely cooperation between two spokes in the US alliance mechanism, arguing that the ongoing growth of bilateral relations is due more to the two countries' shared interests and geostrategic risks in the Indo-Asia-Pacific.However, it also notes that neither country would likely wish to elevate the current relationship to a formal security treaty, due to common concerns about their respective relations with China It concludes that the burgeoning areas of bilateral cooperation indicate that the relationship provides value in its own right, while complementing each nation's formal alliance with the US.

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