Buried in the joint statement of an Australia–Japan defence and foreign ministers’ meeting on 6 September was a step-change: Canberra and Tokyo would deepen cooperation on current and future deterrence activities, including flexible deterrent options (FDOs). That moves the partnership up significantly. At last year’s meeting, the two sides went as far as acknowledging an understanding of each other’s approaches to deterrence. Now we see greater strategic alignment, including planning and moving more closely to deterring together. This is the prerequisite, after which joint FDOs would give both nations a shared ladder of military and non-military options to deliver coordinated and more credible collective deterrence in the Indo-Pacific.
Australia and Japan take a big step towards collective deterrence | The Strategist
