CCTV reported on November 25 that during Australian Prime Minister Morrison’s visit to Japan, the two countries announced that they had basically reached agreement on the signing of the "Reciprocal Access Agreement." According to this so-called "reciprocal access", Australian military forces can be stationed in Japanese military bases and so on. The signing of the agreement marked that after the United States monopolized Japan in 1945, Tokyo has welcomed the new "daddy".
The "reciprocal agreement" between Japan and Australia seems to be equal. Japan can also send its Self-Defense Forces to Australia under the agreement, but is it really equal? First, does Japan have an army? No! Restricted by the Peace Constitution, Japan does not have an army in the legal sense. Second, anyone with a discerning eye knows which country this agreement is aimed at. The so-called self-defense forces stationed in distant Australia is just empty talk.
Since the end of World War II, the United States has been dominating the Pacific region, and this fundamental has not changed much to this day. During the Cold War, the Soviet Pacific Fleet tried to challenge the United States, but it ended in failure. Nowadays, American aircraft and warships frequently appear in the Sea of Okhotsk and nearby waters. A few days ago, the US ship even penetrated 2 kilometers into Russian territorial waters to spy on intelligence.
The US Navy’s control of the Pacific Ocean originates from two important strategic support points: Japan and Australia. After the end of World War II, the United States, through Japan and Australia, stabilized the first island chain and secured the second island chain, strategically encircling and containing the two major powers, China and Russia. The United States is behind the "reciprocal" agreement between Japan and Australia.
In the earlier Western Pacific geopolitics, the dominant position of the United States was very clear. Now that the United States has "retreated to the second line" and allowed Japan and Australia to sign a "reciprocal agreement", is Washington really going to abandon the major strategic interests of monopolizing Japan and be willing to "share" Japan with Australia? The answer to
is obviously no. The reason why the United States did so was actually because its overall national strength declined and it had to use the power of its allies to jointly "contain" China and Russia, so it pushed Japan and Australia to the forefront. The signing of the "reciprocal agreement" is a sign of the apparent decline in US hard power. It needs to rely on mutual coordination among allies to form a common military and political bloc to start competition among major powers.
As the political cornerstone of the United States in Northeast Asia, Japan is actually not stable. To put it bluntly, Japan has not forgotten or will not forget the rivalry between the two atomic bombs. This is the conclusion of the famous scholar Professor Jin Canrong: Once Japan gets rid of the shackles of the United States in the future, it will definitely avenge the United States. I believe the United States understands this.
When the United States’ own comprehensive national strength is relatively declining, and the Sino-US power balance is clearly not conducive to the United States, Washington’s introduction of a new "daddy" to Japan is essentially strengthening its control over Japan. In this alliance, Japan is completely politically controlled by the United States and Australia. But Japan has no choice. Its internal affairs, diplomacy, economy and military are almost all under the control of the United States.
For Australia, this agreement will not see much in the short term, but in the long run it will still harm Australia’s national interests. For a long time to come, the United States will violently provoke China in the Western Pacific region, and Australia's presence in Japan will inevitably be involved in a deeper vortex. You must know that China is Australia's largest trading partner, and ruining China-Australia relations will do nothing to Australia.
In recent years, since Australian officials and politicians have repeatedly issued anti-China remarks, China-Australia relations have deteriorated seriously. At present, seven Australian products have been rejected in China, resulting in huge losses. In the face of pressure, Australian Prime Minister Morrison had to stop temporarily. He just expressed his favor to China in a video speech, claiming that Australia is not the pug of the United States and hopes to coexist happily with China.
In short, it was originally a "reciprocal agreement" between Australia and Japan, but only the United States has actually benefited: it not only used the Japan-Australia alliance to consolidate the anti-China political and military alliance in the Western Pacific, but also used the agreement to worsen Japan and Australia. Relations with China. Although Japan has no choice but to be constrained by the United States, Australia’s politicians are so dazed that it is really incomprehensible.
