The defense chiefs of Japan, the United States and Australia are expected to agree to establish a senior official-level consultation body to discuss their forces’ collaborative operations at their meeting later this week in Singapore, Japanese government sources said Wednesday.
The planned talks on the fringes of the three-day Asia Security Summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, in the city-state from Friday will come as the three Indo-Pacific democracies have become more vigilant against China’s maritime assertiveness in the region.
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and his U.S. and Australian counterparts, Pete Hegseth and Richard Marles, are set to release a joint statement after their gathering, according to the sources.
It will be the first trilateral defense ministerial meeting by the three countries since November and under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who took office for his nonconsecutive second term in January.
