Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Wednesday, March 16, 2022.
Highlights
- Japan denied receiving an unofficial invite to join the AUKUS military alliance.
- There is no fact in the Sankei Shimbun article, Japan said.
- The AUKUS pact was announced by the leaders of Australia, the UK and the US in September 2021.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno on Wednesday denied media reports that Japan received an unofficial invite to join the AUKUS military alliance. "There is no fact in the Sankei Shimbun article Tokyo was not asked to participate in AUKUS", he said.
On Tuesday, media reports suggested that Japan had received an unofficial offer to become part of the AUKUS military bloc, which was formed last year by Australia, the UK and the US. Several unnamed Japanese government officials told the Sankei Shimbun newspaper that Tokyo has been informally approached on such a possibility by each of the three members of the alliance.
What is the AUKUS military alliance?
The AUKUS pact, which is largely seen as a strategy to counter China's growing influence in the Pacific, was announced by the leaders of Australia, the UK and the US in September 2021. Its initial aim was to provide Canberra with a fleet of nuclear-powered, yet conventionally armed, submarines. But last week the trio announced that they were also going to cooperate on developing hypersonic tech, with Japan expressing support for the decision
According to Sankei Shimbun, involving Tokyo in developing hypersonic missiles is one of the main motivations behind the AUKUS offer.
How could Japan contribute to making hypersonic missiles?
Japan is working on a special railgun that it believes could be able to shoot down incoming hypersonic missiles by firing shells at extremely high speeds using electromagnetic force. Canberra, London, and Washington are also interested in the country's capabilities in cyberwarfare, AI and quantum technologies, the paper said.
Two years ago, Japan announced plans to create two types of hypersonic weapons - hypersonic cruise missiles (HCMs) and hyper-velocity gliding projectiles (HVGPs) - saying that they could be fielded sometime between 2024 and 2028.
(IANS Inputs)
