That the Japanese are not at all pleased over losing the $50 billion contract for Australia's new submarine fleet is a given.
Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe took a personal interest in the process. Upon its result this week, his Defence Minister, Gen Nakatani, issued a "please explain" to Australia, describing the decision to award France the tender as "deeply regrettable". 
This regret stems largely from handshakes and nods in both 2013 and 2014 between Abe and Australia's then prime minister Tony Abbott.
The Japanese believed there was an understanding that Australia's submarines would be built by them. In Japan, as in most Asian nations, verbal commitments have impact.
Some would describe that as naive, but a lack of understanding of such nuance is currently causing Asia watchers to suggest Australia is not being totally "honourable" in its own region.
The Australian government has also just awarded a defence supply ships deal to Spanish company Navantia, with the contract expected to be signed soon.
This has outraged the South Korean government because, just as with Japan and the submarines deal, the Koreans thought they were the frontrunners after Abbott had pushed for their involvement.
A spokesman for the Korean embassy in Canberra diplomatically expressed concern over the Spanish being named the preferred partners. "We are very much disappointed, given the high quality and good prices of the Korean ships and Korea's track record of co-operating with foreign countries," he said.
But another Korean source put it more bluntly, saying the free trade agreement reached between Korea and Australia, which came into force in   December 2014, was meant to expedite those defence procurement contracts that were already in train.
A spokesman for Defence Minister Marise Payne said the minister was not involved in that assessment process, but everything was conducted with integrity.
Meanwhile, Singapore's ST Marine design has not been shortlisted for a competitive bid analysis for an offshore patrol vessels project, leading one high-level contact from that nation to describe the snub as "rudeness in the extreme".
Australian National University's Dr Andrew Carr, of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, believes that while the degree to which defence contracts "lock in" relationships can be overstated, Australia potentially has a growing problem in the region.
"The Japanese have a right to be disappointed over the subs because to them they did have some sort of promise," he said.
"There is realism there though and the wider relationship will remain intact, but with these examples in the region, Australia needs to pay more attention to the issue of trust. Our reputation as a reliable trade partner could be hurt and this could potentially flow on to other areas besides defence contracts."
Watching all this from the sidelines is Taiwan, Australia's seventh largest customer for exports - mostly in the fields of energy and minerals.
Although Australia and Taiwan do not have official diplomatic relations, there are strong trade and cultural ties and Taiwan wants a free trade agreement. Senior Taiwanese trade guru Dr David Lee says successive Australian governments had indicated that with a free trade agreement with mainland China completed, talks could progress with Taiwan.