TOKYO – Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara is set to hold a meeting with his counterparts from the United States, Australia and the Philippines in Hawaii early next month, amid China’s increasing maritime assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
Kihara told a press conference that the ministers will share their views on the current regional security environment and common challenges and discuss ways to beef up collaboration when they gather May 2 during his three-day trip to the U.S. island state through May 4.
His counterparts are U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.
Kihara is also arranging bilateral and trilateral talks with Austin and Marles, according to government officials.
It will be the second quadrilateral gathering of defense ministers since June last year, when their defense chiefs held a meeting in Singapore on the fringes of the annual Asia Security Conference known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.
Earlier this month, the four nations carried out their first full-scale joint naval exercises in the South China Sea, where China’s coast guard used water cannons against a Philippine ship near a disputed shoal late last month.
Source: Japan Today
