Rising Sun in Sydney

摘要

A gathering of Royal Australian Navy and Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force ships in Sydney, ahead of the bilateral Exercise Nichi Gou Trident, has gone largely unheralded, despite its significance. When the Soryu class submarine JS Hakuryu arrived in company with the destroyers Asayuki and Umigiri on 15 April, she became the first Japanese submarine to enter Australian waters since World War Ⅱ. The timing of the visit is also intriguing, coming only weeks before the announcement of the preferred design for the RAN's next generation of submarines. The Japanese offering was a strong favourite, until a change of government leadership opened up the project to competition, with France the eventual winners. The naval exercise, which will take place off Sydney for the first time, with HMA Ships Ballarat, Adelaide and Success involved, has been conducted between Australia and Japan since 2009, with the aim of developing and enhancing the levels of interoperability between the two navies.