Japan is set to participate in the second pillar of the AUKUS pact with Australia, the United Kingdom and United States in the first expansion to date of the defence technology-sharing arrangement, the ABC reports.
Australia is working to develop nuclear-powered submarines under “Pillar 1” of AUKUS, utilising US and UK technology.
But there has been persistent speculation that Japan will at some point join “Pillar 2” of AUKUS, which is being used as a mechanism for all three countries to share advanced defence technologies across a range of fields including quantum technology, hypersonic missiles and artificial intelligence.
On Friday, America’s ambassador in Tokyo, Rahm Emanuel, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Japan was “about to become the first additional Pillar II partner” in AUKUS.\
He did not say when the official announcement would happen, but Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is visiting Washington next week to meet with US President Joe Biden, followed by a trilateral summit with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
US officials have already flagged that Washington would “seriously consider” including Japan as a technological partner in elements of the security partnership.
The full report is here.
