HunterNet Newsletter – April 2026

A busy month in the defence realm. Australia and Japan have officially signed off on the $10 billion Mogami destroyer program and Japanese PM Takaichi is expediting changes to domestic legislation to ensure more cross-border collaboration can take place.

Some may have seen the Japanese sailed a Marine Self Defence Force (JMSDF) ship through the Taiwan Strait much to the ire of Beijing.

For the avoidance of doubt, Japan’s Ministry of Defense stated in its 2025 Defence White Paper that scrambles to intercept Chinese military aircraft by the Japan Air Self-Defence Force surged from 96 in 2010 to 464 in 2024. While below the 2016 peak of 851, Japan’s security environment has dramatically worsened. Russia has also become a serious concern, with scrambles to intercept Russian aircraft rising 36 per cent to 237 in 2024. Of greater concern is the joint surveillance operations Russia and China have conducted since 2019.

All told, since 2010, the ministry has recorded almost 12,000 scrambles to intercept Russian and Chinese aircraft near Japan’s borders — more than twice a day.

At sea, the picture is little better. The number of sightings of Chinese combat ships and aircraft carriers around Japan’s south-western islands and the Soya and Tsugaru straits jumped from three in 2010 to 52 in 2024. Last year, Chinese Coast Guard vessels were active in the contiguous waters around the Senkaku Islands for 355 days, with 1351 vessels recorded — both record highs. The 2026 JSDFWP due shortly will report a new record for 2025.

For those in the defence space, Japan’s SDF White Paper has tonnes of useful information. Refer to this link.

My recent substance summary here – https://substack.com/home/post/p-194573274

Japan

HSF Kramer launched their ninth annual Australia-Japan Investment paper. In summary: Japanese investment into Australia reached record levels in 2025, with 77 transactions, 53 partnerships and total direct investment of AUD 159.5 billion across energy, critical minerals, housing, infrastructure, technology and financial services.

Link here

Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi is expected to be in Australia during Golden Week – April 29-May 6. Expect the dialogue to be defence, critical minerals and energy security. No real surprises there.

As she is expected to also travel to SE Asian nations during this time, she will unlikely be here much longer than 2 days.

As I constantly remind readers, there is simmering frustration with the corporates around coal and LNG.

Former Ambassador Shingo Yamagami spoke at a forum in Sydney which I attended. Speaking to the trading houses assembled, they retain little confidence our regulatory framework can attract scalable business. Think BHP going to Argentina for copper opportunities as Exhibit A. Inpex was also public voicing the difficulties in navigating our onerous legislation.

Korea/India

India is now the hottest investment destination for Japanese and Korean companies. Fast growth and young population.

My business has just signed a contract with a large Korean food business which is looking to be a market leader in India. Ambitions inside 5 years are around US$1 billion. This same company is keen to set up a new plant in Australia and conversations of how to facilitate in the Hunter this are in train.

The Korean President Lee is currently in India with a delegation of 200 senior executives from Korea’s major chaebols.

The Hunter has so much opportunity to also jump on the India train.

Navigation is the hardest part. For instance, setting up operations in India isn’t a case of getting one ABN equivalent. Each state requires its own separate ABN equivalent with separate tax file numbers etc etc.

My Indian partners are connected to Walmart across multiple vectors so it will be important to think strategically about Hunter & India as well.

Nuclear is on the agenda as the Indian government has defined the new rules on liability. There is 100GW intended to be spread across each of the 29 states which probably means SMR will be the bulk. Koreans are very keen to get involved, led by KEPCO.

I will be in India in May meeting with Reliance to help prosecute the Hunter’s capabilities. I will update in the upcoming monthly.