Defense secretaries from Australia, Japan, the Philippines and the United States have vowed to deepen cooperation as they gather in Hawaii for a second joint meeting amid concerns over Chinese operations in the South China Sea.
HONOLULU — The defense secretaries of the United States, Australia, Japan and the Philippines met in Hawaii on Thursday for a second joint meeting and vowed to deepen cooperation amid concerns about Chinese operations in the South China Sea. .
The talks came after the four countries last month held their first joint naval exercises in the South China Sea, a major shipping lane, where Beijing has long had simmering territorial disputes with many Southeast Asian countries, and recent China’s tough stance is causing alarm. water.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a press conference after the talks that the exercise strengthened the countries’ ability to work together, build bonds between militaries and highlight a shared commitment to international law on waterways.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said his defense chiefs had discussed increasing the tempo of defense exercises.
“The conference we convene today sends a very important message to the region and the world about four democracies committed to the global rules-based order,” Marrs said. He said this at a joint press conference with.
Austin hosted the defense secretaries of the U.S. Military Area Command and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, located at Camp HM Smith in the hills above Pearl Harbor. Earlier in the day, Austin held separate bilateral talks with Australia and Japan, followed by trilateral talks with Australia and Japan.
The defense secretaries of the four countries held their first meeting in Singapore last year.
The United States has decades-long defense treaties with all three countries.
The United States has no territorial claims to the South China Sea, but it has sent naval vessels and fighter jets in “freedom of navigation operations” to challenge China’s claims to virtually the entire waterway. The United States maintains that freedom of maritime navigation and overflight is in its national interest.
In addition to China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei also have overlapping territorial claims in the resource-rich sea. Beijing has refused to recognize a 2016 international arbitration award that invalidated a wide range of China’s claims on historical grounds.
In particular, skirmishes between Beijing and Manila have intensified since last year. Earlier this week, a Chinese coast guard ship sprayed water on two Philippine patrol boats off Scarborough Shoal, damaging them.
Repeated clashes on the high seas have raised fears of a major conflict that could put China and the United States on a collision course. The United States has repeatedly warned that it has an obligation to protect Asia’s oldest treaty ally if the Philippines uses military force. , including in the South China Sea, if ships or aircraft come under armed attack.
President Joe Biden’s administration said it aims to build a so-called “grid alliance” in the Indo-Pacific region as the United States grapples with the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Beijing argues that the US’s strengthening of alliances in Asia is aimed at containing China and threatens regional stability.
