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Australia and Japan have concluded their ninth 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Consultations, attended by Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Minister for Defence Peter Dutton alongside their Japanese counterparts.
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Australia and Japan have wrapped up their ninth 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Consultations on 9 June, attended by the participants via video conference. Throughout the meeting, the participants strengthened Australia and Japan’s ongoing strategic, economic and defence partnership and confirmed their bilateral support for the US, Uyghurs and Hong Kong.
In attendance at the meeting was the Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Minister for Defence Peter Dutton, as well as their Japanese counterparts Minister for Foreign Affairs Motegi Toshimitsu and Minister of Defence of Japan Kishi Nobuo.
Throughout the meeting, the ministers agreed upon 20 agenda items to strengthen the Australian-Japanese strategic partnership.
The agreements include strengthening shared liberal values, supporting the presence of the US in the Indo-Pacific, rejecting coercive behaviour, supporting the status quo in the South China Sea and sharing concerns over the humanitarian crisis in Xinjiang against the Uyghurs.
According to a joint statement from the four ministers, the countries also took affirmative stances on Hong Kong’s sovereignty and the threat of North Korea.
“We also urge the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities to uphold their commitments to the Hong Kong people. We share grave concerns about recent moves that weaken Hong Kong's democratic institutions and undermine the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Hong Kong Basic Law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration,” the statement read.
“We reiterate our commitment to achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of all nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction, and ballistic missiles of all ranges of North Korea. We urge North Korea to abide by its obligations under the UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs), and call on all United Nations Member States to continue to implement their obligations fully under relevant UNSCRs. We commit to deterring, disrupting, and ultimately eliminating the evasion of sanctions by North Korea, including illicit ship-to-ship transfers and direct shipments of sanctioned goods. We call on North Korea to end its human rights violations and immediately resolve the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.”
The statement was released by all ministers present, both Japanese and Australian.
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