Overview
- Japan and Australia, which issued five outcome documents Monday, adopted a joint economic security declaration to deepen cooperation on energy, critical minerals, defense and cybersecurity.
- Australia said it will provide up to A$1.3 billion to support critical minerals projects with Japanese partners, targeting supply of gallium, nickel, graphite, rare earths and fluorite.
- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz is hitting the Indo-Pacific hard and that both countries will coordinate urgently to secure fuel supplies through more reliable routes.
- A joint statement flagged concerns about economic coercion and concentrated rare earth processing in one country, and it elevated critical minerals to a core pillar of the bilateral economic-security partnership.
- At home, a former Australian defense official urged exploring leased Japanese submarines as a fallback for AUKUS, but Foreign Minister Penny Wong rejected the idea and said the government remains focused on the existing plan.