Thread by @stephendziedzic

Australia and Japan issue a wide-ranging joint statement in the wake of the 2+2 meeting of Defence and Foreign Ministers. Here's the paragraph on the East China Sea - I think this is the first time there's been a direct reference to Taiwan in an Aus-Japan statement 1/

(Although worth noting that Japan has recently been more willing to reference Taiwan in joint statements, so this is not exceptional - for eg there were references to the recent Japan-US and Japan-EU statements) 2/

Point 6 also jumps out - "we commit to opposing coercion and destabilising behaviour by economic means, which undermines the rules-based international system" 3/

Here's the section on the RAA. Slowly, slowly getting there. "Good progress" has been made since the announcement of in principle agreement by the PMs. Gosh this is taking a while. I guess that's inevitable given complexities at play, plus the fact new ground is being broken 4/

Both sides "commit to accelerating all outstanding tasks to sign the RAA at the earliest possible opportunity" 5/

Here's the section on Myanmar. Quite a bit of common ground here. Aus and Japan have both decided against further sanctions and are throwing their weight behind the ASEAN response 6/