ABC News | 31Mar23
Security, or lack thereof, can be a powerful motivator.
In the case of the latter, the term fight or flight pretty much sums up the human impulse to act when forced into a tight corner and left vulnerable.
Perhaps it is for those reasons that one of Japan’s corporate titans this week took the extraordinary step of delivering an incendiary speech to a high-powered group in federal parliament.
In remarks that reportedly left observers stunned, Inpex boss Takayuki Ueda warned that Australia risked undermining world peace by “quietly quitting” the liquefied natural gas business.
He was backed by Japanese ambassador Yamagami Shingo, who said Tokyo might be a city that never slept, but its lights would go out if Australia stopped supplying Japan with energy.
So, are the warnings real and how much stock should we put in them?
How secure are Japan’s resources?
In the words of acclaimed American energy writer Daniel Yergin, Japan has long viewed the issue of resource security differently from most developed countries because it is “virtually devoid of natural resources”.