上川氏「安保協力強化を」　豪紙に寄稿、総裁選意識か

　【シドニー時事】上川陽子外相は５日付のオーストラリア経済紙「オーストラリアン・フィナンシャル・レビュー」に寄稿し、「われわれは歴史の転換点にいる。日豪両国は既に強固な安全保障協力をさらに強めるべき時だ」と訴えた。
　豪州で同日開催の日豪外務・防衛担当閣僚会議（２プラス２）に合わせた。上川氏は出馬に意欲を示す今月の自民党総裁選を意識し、発信を強化する狙いもあるとみられる。同紙は上川氏を「首相レースの挑戦者の一人」と紹介した。
　寄稿で上川氏は、覇権主義的動きを強める中国を念頭に「武力の行使や威圧による一方的な現状変更の試みなど深刻な脅威がある」と指摘。「日豪が志を同じくする地域のパートナーと共に安保協力を深めるのは当然だ」と主張した。（2024/09/05-08:49）

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said in an article she contributed to an Australian economic paper that Japan and Australia should bolster their security ties further.
   "We are at a turning point in history," she said in the article published on Thursday in The Australian Financial Review. "Now is the time to continue to further strengthen the already resolute security cooperation between Japan and Australia."
   The article was released to coincide with the day's so-called two-plus-two security meeting of foreign and defense ministers from Japan and Australia in a suburb of Melbourne in southeastern Australia.
   Kamikawa apparently aimed to boost her presence through the article ahead of the Sept. 27 presidential election of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party to pick a successor to outgoing LDP President and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The Australian paper called Kamikawa "a contender in Japan's prime ministerial race."
   "The peaceful and stable international environment faces serious threats, including unilateral attempts to change the status quo through the use of force and coercion," she said in the article, apparently with China's growing hegemonic moves in mind. "Amid the increasingly severe regional and global situation, it is natural that close friends Japan and Australia continue to deepen our security cooperation together with like-minded partners in the region."