ABSTRACT
To most Japanese observers of international relations, the recent triangular cooperation between the United States, Australia and Japan in the security arena is not well known. While many understand that the United States-Japan bilateral alliance has been the key to postwar Japanese security and economic development, triangular security relations with the Asia-Pacific’s two other major maritime powers have only recently become visible.1 Most evident is that Australian troops provided security for Japanese troops in Samawa, Iraq, until the Japanese contingent withdrew in June 2006. This development has underscored to Japan’s electorate that triangular cooperation between Australia, Japan and the United States has become a more prominent feature in their own country’s international security policy.
