Indo-Japan-US Trilateral Meeting Focuses On Keeping Sea Lanes Accessible

Ahead of the Trump-Abe meeting later this month, India-Japan-US held a trilateral meeting in New Delhi. The focus of the meeting was to enhance cooperation and echo India’s concerns on the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

The talks were held by senior officials of ministries of the three countries. In a statement issued by the MEA (Ministry Of External Affairs), it was stated that the three sides agreed to resolve and enhance cooperation. They also agreed to remain engaged and strengthen cooperation in support for a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through a partnership with countries in the region.

The meeting was a follow up to an earlier meeting led by the Foreign Ministers of the three countries who had met in September 2017, on the sidelines of UNGA (United Nations General Assembly).

“The officials reviewed the outcomes of the Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group that met in Washington in February and agreed to continue to collaborate to promote increased connectivity in the Indo-Pacific,” the joint press statement said.

During the meeting, the officials also explored practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; counter-proliferation; counter-terrorism; maritime security, maritime domain awareness, and HA-DR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief).

The India-Japan-US trilateral was launched in December 2011 when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of state. For the first several rounds, the trilateral was held at the director or assistant secretary level. It was elevated to ministerial level in 2015.

This meeting comes at a time when the US and China are engaged in a trade war with each other since both the countries imposed heavy tariffs on each other’s products.

Later this month, the US President Donald Trump and Japanese PM Abe Shinzo are set to meet and reaffirm the US-Japan alliance.

In a statement issued by White House it was stated that “During the two-day summit on 17-18 April, the two leaders will reaffirm the US-Japan alliance as a cornerstone of peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.”

India-US-Japan are also a part of the group called the Quad (short for Quadrilateral) along with Australia. The purpose of formation of the quad was to strengthen maritime co-operation in the Asia-Pacific region and also to send a veiled message to China for constantly asserting its dominance in the region.