Australian defence minister to visit Japan as 'strategic alignment' grows

SYDNEY, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles will travel to Japan on Saturday to meet his counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, and discuss deepening defence ties, his office said on Friday.

Australia wanted to engage early with the new government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Australian officials said, noting the two countries had a "shared vision for our region" and were working to respond to increasingly complex global challenges.

"Our relationship with Japan continues to grow from strength to strength – underpinned by close strategic alignment, mutual ambition and enormous potential," Marles said in a statement ahead of the two-day visit.

Japan and China are in their worst diplomatic crisis in years, after Takaichi said last month in parliament that a hypothetical Chinese attack on democratically governed Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.

Australia awarded a A$10 billion ($6.5 billion) contract to Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in August to build warships for Australia, marking Tokyo's most consequential defence sale since ending a military export ban in 2014 as it steps away from postwar pacifism. Marles is scheduled to visit the company's shipyard in Nagasaki, southern Japan, Koizumi said.

Australia plans to deploy the Mogami-class frigates to defend critical maritime trade routes and its northern approaches in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where China's military footprint is expanding.

"At this meeting, we plan to share the understanding of the regional situation between the two countries and hold concrete discussions for further progress in Japan-Australia defence cooperation," Koizumi told a regularly scheduled press conference.

Marles is expected to travel next week to Washington, to meet with the U.S. and British defence ministers and discuss the AUKUS nuclear powered submarine partnership.

The Pentagon has completed its review of the AUKUS project to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines and has found areas to put the deal on the "strongest possible footing", a U.S. official said on Thursday.

Australian officials said on Monday an overhaul of the defence department will see naval shipbuilding sped up.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney, additional reporting by Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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