| GEO World | | Japan, Australia hold security talks | Updated at: 1252 PST, Wednesday, May 19, 2010
TOKYO: Japan and Australia were to hold talks in Tokyo Wednesday on stepping up military and diplomatic cooperation, despite a dispute between the Pacific allies over Japanese whaling.
Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa were to meet their Australian counterparts Stephen Smith and John Faulkner in the late afternoon.
Tokyo and Canberra are working on an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement, under which their armed forces would provide each other with food, fuel and logistical support during peacekeeping and disaster-relief missions.
It is the third such meeting by the foreign and defence ministers of Japan and Australia since the nations signed a security pact in March 2007, and the first under the government of Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
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