Sydney - Australia could develop its own missile defence
system, with the nation poised to join the United States and Japan in
research on anti-ballistic missiles.
Washington is spearheading the initiative as part of its long-term
plan to build a global missile-defence shield in response to the
nuclear ambitions of North Korea, the Australian newspaper reported
Wednesday.
The Howard government is considering the extent to which Australia
will become involved in the planned missile-defence system.
But a trilateral missile research agreement involving Australia,
the US and Japan would further antagonize China, which already has
concerns about defence ties between Washington, Tokyo and Canberra,
the newspaper said.
There is a strong possibility that the Royal Australian Navy's new
air warfare destroyers, due to enter service in 2013, will eventually
be equipped with SM-3 missiles, which are designed to intercept
incoming missiles from outside the earth's atmosphere.
Ballistic-missile defence is one of the key issues being debated
under the newly formed trilateral security dialogue taking place
between the US, Japan and Australia.
Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson declined to comment
Tuesday on Japanese media reports that a framework agreement on
missile defence had been agreed last month between the three
countries.
'Japan and the United States will work together with Australia to
strengthen security in the Asia-Pacific region,' a senior official at
the Japanese Defence Ministry told the Nikkei newspaper.
Japanese Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma claimed Tuesday not to be
aware of details but appeared to confirm that three-way discussions
on missile defence were underway. When questioned about the Nikkei
report, he said: 'I wasn't aware that the programme had developed
that far in concrete terms.'
Japan is implementing a two-stage missile shield programme jointly
with the US. Tokyo considers a ballistic-missile attack from
Pyongyang as its most pressing security threat.
Nelson and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will
travel early next month to Tokyo for security talks with the Japanese
officials, with the potential missile threat posed by North Korea on
the agenda.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story