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Abe visits Australia’s Darwin, 75 years after Japanese bombing
DARWIN, Australia, Nov 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
makes a historic visit to Darwin on Friday, some 75 years after Japan bombed
the northern Australian city, as the two countries cement ties in the face of
emergent China.
Trade and closer defence ties will be the centrepieces of Abe’s two-day
visit and meetings with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, before the two leaders
travel to PNG for the weekend APEC summit.
Abe will be the first Japanese leader to visit the northern Australia port
city, where more than 250 people were killed during multiple Japanese bombing
raids in 1942-43 during World War II — the worst foreign attacks ever on the
country.
Abe and Morrison are scheduled to pay their respects at memorials to the
war dead in an act reminiscent of the Japanese leader’s visit to Pearl Harbor
in 2016.
“Prime Minister Abe’s visit is deeply symbolic and significant and it will
build on our two countries’ strong and enduring friendship as well as our
economic, security, community and historical ties,” Morrison said in a
statement.
The Japanese leader will also attend a ceremony marking the opening of the
US$34 billion Ichthys LNG pipeline project, in which Japan’s Inpex is the
majority shareholder and operator and which began shipping natural gas to
Japan last month.
It is Japan’s largest overseas investment and will reinforce Australia’s
position as that country’s main energy supplier. The operation taps fields
off Australia’s northern coast and pipes the gas nearly 900 kilometres (550
miles) to a port near Darwin.
Australian officials said Friday’s discussions would include ongoing
efforts to reach agreement on enhanced defence cooperation, including regular
joint military exercises.
That effort reflects the desire of both countries to expand their
involvement across the Pacific to counter increased Chinese military and
economic activity in the region.
Japan and Australia played leading roles in reviving the Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade deal after President Donald Trump withdrew US support for
the agreement.
Canberra and Tokyo also both recently launched Pacific infrastructure
projects to offer alternatives to Beijing’s so-called Belt and Road
initiative, which has seen China pour billions of dollars of investment into
the area.
The regional competition will be on full view Friday as Abe’s Darwin visit
coincides with a mini-summit organised by Chinese President Xi Jinping with
seven Pacific island leaders in Papua New Guinea ahead of the APEC
conference.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0828 hrs