Australia, Japan sign defense pact as China concerns loom

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

SYDNEY (AP) — The leaders of Japan and Australia signed a “landmark” defense agreement Thursday that allows closer cooperation between their militaries and stands as a rebuke to China's growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met in a virtual summit to sign the Reciprocal Access Agreement, the first such defense pact signed by Japan with any country other than the United States.

The agreement follows more than a year of talks between Japan and Australia aimed at breaking down legal barriers to allow the troops of one country to enter the other for training and other purposes.

“Japan is our closest partner in Asia as demonstrated by our special strategic partnership — Australia’s only such partnership,” Morrison said. “An equal partnership, shared trust between two great democracies committed to the rule of law, human rights, free trade and a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Read more: https://kearneyhub.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/australia-japan-sign-defense-pact-as-china-concerns-loom/article_37339942-8340-54d3-af70-7647ca8e09ed.html

[BlueWavePsych]

1. Go QUAD!

[EastMeetsWest]

5. Thank you!

I hope the QUAD will help to keep China from doing something stupid, like attacking Taiwan, and perhaps even Japan. But I'm a bit worried. If you think Kim Jong-un is unhinged, well, Xi is probably worse. He is as petulant as a 3-year-old brat (he reportedly throws a snit fit whenever someone calls him "Pooh&quot , and he has a super tantrum when another country uses "Taiwan" in an official capacity, even going so far as to recall ambassadors and threatening trade boycotts. Read about "China, Lithuania, Taiwan Representative Office" to get an idea.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

2. Praying for Japan to build more aircraft carriers and start to assert itself...

Well, here we are.

[roamer65]

3. That could also mean Japanese nuclear weapons.

[EastMeetsWest]

4. Japan is not going to develop nuclear weapons

As the only nation that has been on the receiving end of a nuclear attack, Japan is well aware of the destruction that nuclear weapons can cause. In a recent nationwide postal poll sponsored by the Chunichi Shimbun newspaper, 71% of respondents wanted Japan to participate in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (核禁条約 ) which went into effect last year.

[betsuni]

6. Japan's a nursing home.

No money and nobody to assert anything.

[EastMeetsWest]

7. Japan is hardly a nursing home

You have a Japanese name but you don't seem to know Japan.

[betsuni]

8. ...

[EastMeetsWest]

10. So tell me, where are you in Japan?

I'm in Kanto, and I've been working and living here for 3 decades. 私は関東地方で３０年間、生活や仕事をしています。あなたは？

[catsudon]

9. are you a wumao?

no text

[EastMeetsWest]

11. She certainly sounds like one

I'm a newbie here, but I've spent half of my life in Japan, and I get a bad vibe from what I've read from her.

[catsudon]

12. fantastic, i used to translate manga to english as a hobby

while trying to learn japanese. I'm taiwanese so i can spot pro ccp shills easily.

we know most mainlanders hate Japanese and America, but yet they still prefer to live in the states and love to vacation in japan.

[betsuni]

13. ...

[George II]

14. For those here who don't know what a "wumao" is, the definitions (main stream and urban dictionary):

Main Stream:

A suspected online paid operative of the Chinese Communist Party said to be paid 50 cents per post promoting or defending the party in chat rooms and fora and posting positive comments about China generally.

Urban Dictionary:

Wumao are losers sponsored by the chinese government to spread misinformation and basically jerk each other off in their little echo chambers. They are some of the goofiest people on the interent and tend to give off "small dick energy" because of their hilarious arguments and insults, as they are typically copied directly from google translate.

Are you really sure you want to call someone here on DU, especially one who has been around for about nine years, a "paid operative of the Chinese Communist Party" and "loser"?

[Hortensis]

16. EastMeetsWest, you're new here. Denigrating other members

isn't allowed, much less suggesting... Catsudon's fairly new also so may not know either. Here's a link to the TOS, which are enforced.

Welcome to DU, of course. I suspect you and Betsuni will enjoy chatting once you get to know each other.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=termsofservice

[Cha]

18. Well bully for you.. I'm Not a

"newbie" and I've Respected her for years.

[lapucelle]

19. Isn't a wumao a internet troll paid by the Chinese government?

Welcome to DU.

[George II]

15. That's a pretty offensive accusation. I hope people see my post #14. I'll repost it here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2852703

For those here who don't know what a "wumao" is, the definitions (main stream and urban dictionary):

Main Stream:

A suspected online paid operative of the Chinese Communist Party said to be paid 50 cents per post promoting or defending the party in chat rooms and fora and posting positive comments about China generally.

Urban Dictionary:

Wumao are losers sponsored by the chinese government to spread misinformation and basically jerk each other off in their little echo chambers. They are some of the goofiest people on the interent and tend to give off "small dick energy" because of their hilarious arguments and insults, as they are typically copied directly from google translate.

Are you really sure you want to call someone here on DU, especially one who has been around for about nine years, a "paid operative of the Chinese Communist Party" and "loser"?

[Hortensis]

17. Big deal seemingly, with more to come. China's forcing

big defense action among many Indopacific nations.

That food packet looks like a sensible easy-prep stock, and I wouldn't mind getting it as is. As apparently some others wouldn't either.

I don't think, though, that a U.S. version would work here with over 130 million households with 330 million people. Most Americans wouldn't need it to begin with. Ultimately, waste of food would probably be enormous and itself become a subject of national discontent and criticism. (Not least among those who complain about everything the government does.)

There are a number of reasons we issued rescue checks to our large, culturally diverse and widely spread people, including

* enabling personal choices to meet personal needs,
* again, the adequate food stocks in or available to most households already,
* free food banks and other food distribution services already existing in most communities,
* ease and speed of delivery of relief checks to all households (big!), and
* spread of the money throughout local communities to multiply its benefit to many (a super big one!).
* And?

[rockfordfile]

20. They have no choice.