New Delhi: India, Japan and Australia on Wednesday stressed their commitments to peace, democracy, economic growth and a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region during a meeting in New Delhi.
The fourth India-Japan-Australia trilateral dialogue among India’s foreign secretary S. Jaishankar, Japan’s vice minister of foreign affairs Shinsuke J. Sugiyama and Australia’s secretary of the department of foreign affairs and trade Frances Adamson comes during a week when India hosted the foreign ministers of Russia and China for another trilateral meeting in New Delhi on Monday.
On Tuesday, India and Australia held their inaugural “2+2” dialogue involving defence and foreign secretaries, to discuss ways to ensure a “free” and “open” Indo-Pacific region.
All these sets of dialogues and conversations are taking place against the backdrop of officials from India, Japan, Australia and the US sitting down for talks last month that focused on the Indo-Pacific region against the backdrop of a rising China.
The four-nation “quad” of major democracies, which met in Manila on the margins of the East Asia Summit, is also seen as the possible nucleus of a probable new security architecture in Asia. The four countries are expected to come together for naval drills in the near future with China warily eyeing the “quadrilateral exchanges,” and stating its hope that the group and its actions are not directed against Beijing.
A statement from the Indian government on the India-Australia-Japan trilateral talks said the three countries “highlighted the growing convergence of their respective countries’ interests in the Indo-Pacific region and underscored their shared commitment to peace, democracy, economic growth and a rules-based order in the region”.
“The three countries underlined their support for ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) centrality in the political and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region,” the statement said. The countries also stressed the need for greater collaboration in the area of maritime security, disaster response, counterterrorism and strengthening regional connectivity, it added.