Japan’s Takaichi Visit Signals Deeper Australia Partnership on Rare Earths, LNG, and Indo-Pacific Security
The Diplomat reports that Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s early-May trip to Australia will prioritize rare earth cooperation as part of Japan’s broader economic security and supply-chain diversification strategy. The agenda also links critical minerals to LNG resilience and defense cooperation, while highlighting downstream processing constraints and potential geopolitical pushback risks.