Scrum-halves

THE prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, flew to the Australian outback’s red desert on July 9th to inspect the commodity that once defined his country’s relations with Australia: iron ore. He left behind policy wonks in Canberra, the capital, digesting his blunt call a day earlier for a “truly new base” for the relationship between the two countries. After acknowledging the second world war, in which Australia and Japan were mortal enemies, Mr Abe told Parliament that Australia and Japan must now “join up in a scrum, just like in rugby” to nurture regional peace. Many Australians read his remarks as recruiting Australia as an ally in Japan’s disputes with China, creating a growing dilemma for some in the host country.

Mr Abe had arrived from New Zealand, where John Key, the prime minister, opposed any attempt by Japan to resume whaling in the Antarctic Ocean following the International Court of Justice’s ruling against Japan’s “scientific” whale hunts in April. In Canberra, however, Mr Abe’s sights were fixed more on the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Mr Abe’s speech made no mention of China, yet it was all about that country, its growing military posturing and its challenges to neighbours’ maritime claims. Mr Abe called on Australia to join Japan in keeping the Asia-Pacific region’s “vast seas” and its skies “open and free”.