I recently wrote and published a paper titled “Expanding Horizons: Reciprocal Access Agreements, the Japan-Australia Special Strategic Partnership, and Japan’s Novel Security Cooperation” for the Journal of International and Area Studies (JIAS), which is published by the Institute of International Affairs (IIA) of Seoul National University’s Graduate School of International Studies. I am the first and main author and my corresponding author is Professor Park Tae-gyun of Seoul National University. My research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea’s Brain Korea 21 FOUR Program “Cultivating the Next Generation of Academic Leaders in Interdisciplinary Studies of International Area and Development Cooperation for a New National Strategy” at the Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University. I had been selected as a BK21 Fellow by the program.
JIAS is published on a biannual basis, and my paper was published in the December 2023 edition of JIAS (Volume 30, No. 2). The paper’s abstract and keywords are quoted below. The link to the paper’s webpages in the Korea Citation Index (KCI), the Korea Open Access Journals (KOAJ), and the Seoul National University Library (Open Repository and Archive) as well as a PDF file of the paper itself can all be accessed below.
Abstract
This paper outlines the contours of Japan’s newly strengthened security cooperation with aligned powers in the Indo-Pacific and beyond through the case study of its so-called “Special Strategic Partnership” (tokubetsuna senryakuteki pātonāshippu) with Australia. In particular, it discusses the new bilateral framework constituted by the so-called Japan- Australia Reciprocal Access Agreement (Nichigō enkatsuka kyōtei) signed by the two countries in 2022, focusing both on its legal contents and wider significance for security cooperation between its signatories. Such an analysis is prefaced by a discussion of its doctrinal and geopolitical backgrounds, which are identified as the FOIP vision (jiyūde hirakareta Indo-Taiheiyō) and integrated deterrence against a revisionist China, respectively. In light of the highly politicized rhetoric regarding the Special Strategic Partnership, the actual capabilities of this security partnership between Japan and Australia, as well as their attendant legal instruments, are analyzed in comparison with those of the US-Japan Alliance. Finally, in light of the reproducibility of the RAA framework and the signing of a second RAA between Japan and the UK in 2023, the geopolitical implications and outlook of Japan’s newly expanded sphere of security cooperation are also discussed.
Keywords
Japan-Australia Reciprocal Access Agreement (JA-RAA), Japan-Australia
Special Strategic Partnership (JA-SSP), Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), Japan-
Australia Relations, Integrated Deterrence
Korea Citation Index (KCI) Link
Korea Open Access Journals (KOAJ) Link
Seoul National University Open Repository and Archive Link