Author: Peter Drysdale

There has been some static in the relationship between Australia and Japan since the election of the Rudd Government last year. Does this mean that there has been a fundamental re-positioning in the relationship, here in Australia, or at the other end in Japan?

The answer to that question is ‘no’.

Then what explains the static in the relationship? And, if there has been no fundamental re-positioning in the relationship, does this mean that there are no problems in the relationship that have to be dealt with, and that we have done all that we need to in developing the relationship? Obviously not: there are some blind spots and fundamental issues in getting the relationship with Japan right that both countries need to address. They are not only issues for both governments. Indeed, the most serious problems lie beyond government though not beyond the influence of government. There are serious problems with Australian press representation in Japan. There are trends in Japanese studies that are weakening Australian capacities to understand Japan. The intellectual dialogue with Japan has waned. These developments are not a product of anything that the new Australian government has yet done to affect the relationship. Their origins lie more in what went before, both sins of commission and sins of omission, importantly because of a seriously under-nuanced reading of what was going on in the Japanese economy and Japanese politics in areas where Australia’s long term strategic interests are shaped and affected.

These questions were examined in a briefing to the Australian Institute of International Affairs in Canberra today (my full speech here in pdf).