(VOVworld) – The defense ministers of Japan and India agreed Friday to boost their trilateral security cooperation with the United States, amid China’s increasing assertiveness in regional waters.

(Photo: anninhthudo.vn)

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said “it is very significant” for Japan, India, and the US that “share the same value” to strengthen cooperation to ensure the security of the Pacific and Indian oceans. Nakatani proposed that the three countries start organizing regular high-level meetings to reach those results.

Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Japanese counterpart held talks in Singapore just before the opening of Asia’s annual premier security forum, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue. Japan has decided to send its Maritime Self-Defense Force to India’s joint naval exercises with the United States every year. Since 1992 India and the United States have been conducting the drills, called the Malabar, in the Indian Ocean and adjacent waters of the Sea of Japan.