Defense Leaders Look to Strengthen Rules-Based Order
Oct. 1, 2022 | By Jim Garamone, DOD News |
The defense leaders of the United States, Japan and Australia met today to strengthen the defense of the rules-based, international order that China and Russia are trying to dismantle.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III hosted Richard Marles, Australia's deputy prime minister and defense minister, and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii to chart the way forward in the trilateral alliance.
A man stands at a podium, as two men and a woman look on.
Austin said the meeting is a way for the nations to build on their already close partnership. "America is proud to count Australia and Japan among our very closest allies," he said at the start of the meeting. "For decades, our three democracies have worked shoulder-to-shoulder as an anchor for stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the globe."
The three countries share common values and common purposes, the secretary said, and are willing to defend an order that respects the rights of all nations to go about their business without bullying and intimidation.
"But today, that vision is threatened by autocratic countries that peddle disinformation and defy international rules and rely on coercion and intimidation," Austin said. "We are deeply concerned by China's increasingly aggressive and bullying behavior in the Taiwan Strait and elsewhere in the region."
https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3176899/defense-leaders-look-to-strengthen-rules-based-order/
