Elite GSDF troops to regularly deploy for drills in Australia

Japan will regularly deploy the Ground Self-Defense Force’s marine unit to Australia, the two countries’ defense chiefs said Sunday, in a boost for trilateral cooperation alongside Washington that is intended to send a strong signal of deterrence to China and North Korea.

The announcement that Japan would regularly deploy the GSDF’s elite Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade to Australia came during a joint news conference following a trilateral meeting of the U.S., Japanese and Australian defense ministers in Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, on Sunday.

The U.S. military maintains a Marine Rotational Force, a unit that regularly rotates in and out of the region as part of a broader defense cooperation, in Darwin. Around 2,000 U.S. Marines and sailors are stationed in the city for half of the year amid mounting concerns in Washington and among allies over China's growing military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade will regularly be deployed alongside the Australian Defense Force (ADF) and U.S. Marines during these rotations from next year as the three countries aim to “build interoperability,” Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said.

In an interview earlier in the day with Sky News, Marles called the move “a really fantastic opportunity.”

The choice of making the announcement in Darwin was especially symbolic of the partners’ closer trilateral ties, since the city, which was a major base for allied forces during World War II, was heavily bombed by the Japanese military.

The three countries form “the core of a partnership between like-minded nations,” Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said during the news conference, adding that it is important to steadily enhance the joint capabilities of the Self-Defense Forces, the U.S. military and ADF in order to ensure “effective cooperation in all situations, from daily operations to emergencies.”

“Australia is a country with which we have built close cooperation, second only to the U.S.,” Nakatani said. “We recognize it as the most promising framework for practical defense cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Nakatani also said he had proposed the establishment of the so-called Trilateral Defense Consultations (TDC) mechanism between the three nations, which was agreed upon by Marles and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and which aims to enhance the effectiveness of trilateral defense cooperation through three key components — regular ministerial-level meetings for strategic direction, follow-ups through policy and operational-level discussions and tabletop exercises focused on regional emergencies.

By utilizing the newly established mechanism, Japan aims to build a strong foundation of trust and cooperation with the next U.S. administration, Nakatani noted.

The Japanese defense chief also said that the three officials had agreed to discuss sharing missile-defense information in response to North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches.

For Japan and Australia, defense officials have said the next 18 to 24 months will see the quasi-allies not only increase military deployments to each other’s territories — a move facilitated by a visiting-forces pact that entered into force in August last year — it will also allow for the testing and sharing new technologies and capabilities.

During their last trilateral meeting in Singapore in June, the three nations voiced deep concerns over security in the East China Sea and stated their opposition to "any destabilizing and coercive unilateral actions" in the area.

That same month, Tokyo protested to Beijing after Chinese vessels, apparently carrying cannons, entered its waters around the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The islets, known as the Diaoyu in China, are also claimed by Beijing.