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Top Japanese official visits Australia as bid to build new frigate heats up
A top adviser to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has visited Australia for discussions on deepening security ties, as Japan looks to win a government contract to replace the quasi-ally's aging frigates.
Akihisa Nagashima, special adviser to Ishiba, visited the cities of Canberra and Perth from Tuesday through Saturday, meeting with officials from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the prime minister's office, as well as the country's director-general of national intelligence, according to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo.
The visit was also seen as another move by Japan to up its game in the race for the multibillion-dollar Australian frigate contract. Japan, together with Germany, are the finalists in the bid to jointly develop the new frigates with Australia. Canberra is expected to make a final decision on the matter by the end of the year.
Nagashima said in a post Sunday to his X social media account that he had held discussions in Canberra 'with key members of the Australian government on deepening the Japan-Australia 'quasi-alliance' for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,' adding that he had also traveled to Perth 'to give a final push for the Mogami-class multipurpose frigate joint production project.'
Japan is pitching an as-of-yet unfielded upgraded version of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Mogami-class frigates, which are operated by the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF).
The top adviser to the prime minister also said he had held informal talks with representatives from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Canberra office, discussing defense-industrial cooperation between the two countries, while later visiting Perth's Henderson shipyard, where some of the new Australian frigates are expected to be built.
If won, the contract would be the largest military export deal in Japan's postwar history, offering a major breakthrough for the country's defense industry.
Akihisa Nagashima, special adviser to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, speaks during an interview in Tokyo in December. |
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Under the project — which has a budget of between 7 billion and 11 billion Australian dollars ($4.3 billion to $6.8 billion) over the next decade — Canberra is seeking seven to 11 general-purpose frigates optimized for undersea warfare to replace its Anzac-class warships.
Japan has pulled out all the stops to win the contract, sending one of its Mogami-class vessels to Australia earlier this year for joint military exercises and making a port call earlier this month with another Mogami ship to the city of Darwin, where the MSDF hosted a reception for Royal Australian Navy officials on board the ship.
Experts, however, say that German shipbuilder Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems has significantly increased its chances in the frigate competition by partnering with Saab — an entrenched supplier of crucial equipment for Australian warships — late last month.
The German firm signed up Saab to 'explore opportunities for collaboration on the MEKO A-200, with a focus on enhancing naval capabilities through joint innovation and integration,' it said in a statement.
Together with the Mogami-class vessel, Australia has also shortlisted Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems' MEKO A-200 design.
'This challenges widespread assumptions that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is the favorite,' analysts from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute wrote in an analysis earlier this month.
'A German victory, if it occurs, will be a serious blow to what has been a revitalised security relationship between Australia and Japan.'
