Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on UK national security of the signing of the Reciprocal Access Agreement between Australia and Japan.

The UK has been tracking the progress on the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) between Australia and Japan given our own ongoing RAA negotiations with Japan which were formally announced in September 2021.

We share close defence and security relationships with both Australia and Japan. As demonstrated by our recent announcement on the AUKUS alliance, and through the sharing of extensive intelligence through the Five Eyes alliance, the UK shares a unique level of trust and cooperation with Australia.

We are also deepening our defence relationship with Japan. Last year saw the successful visit to Japan of the Carrier Strike Group 21 and the associated bilateral and multilateral joint exercises, as well as an announcement in December of plans to develop jointly a future fighter aircraft engine demonstrator and explore further combat air technologies.

We trust that this commitment by two of our partners in the region may lead to more opportunities for defence engagement as we continue to work together to address global security challenges in the region.