ABC News, Australia, and Japan have taken a major step towards signing a long-awaited defense pact which will enable both countries to intensify military cooperation in the face of rising tensions with China. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced an "in-principle agreement" on the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) after holding their first face-to-face meeting in Tokyo.
Australia is taking the next step toward building a coalition of “like-minded” democracies pushing back against what they view as Beijing’s increasing expansionism in the Indo-Pacific -- even as the list of trade reprisals against it grows.
