Australia, US and Japan strengthen military cooperation

Sydney — 

Australia, Japan and the U.S. connected Sunday committed to person subject practice successful grooming their forces arsenic the countries deepened their ties successful a bid to antagonistic China's subject strength.

Australia's curate of defense, Richard Marles, hosted U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani connected Sunday for the trilateral ministers' gathering -- the archetypal to beryllium held successful Australia.

Under the caller agreement, Japan's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade -- an elite marine portion -- volition beryllium deployed to Darwin to regularly enactment and bid alongside Australian and U.S. forces.

"It is simply a precise important connection to the portion and to the satellite astir the committedness that our 3 countries person successful moving with each other," Marles said.

"This is going to physique interoperability betwixt our 3 countries."

Austin said the concern would summation quality "surveillance and reconnaissance activities" among the 3 countries, which volition "advance our goals for a unafraid and peaceful Indo Pacific."

The U.S. defence main said helium was arrogant of what his bureau had done to "strengthen alliances" successful the portion and enactment with "countries that stock the imaginativeness of a escaped and unfastened Indo Pacific."

Canberra has drawn ever nearer to longtime state the United States, bolstering its subject successful an effort to deter the mightiness of a rising China.

Besides rapidly processing its aboveground fleet, Australia plans to deploy stealthy nuclear-powered submarines successful a tripartite woody with the United States and Britain known arsenic AUKUS.

Some fearfulness U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could jettison oregon effort to rewrite the pact, returning to his "America first" benignant of overseas policy.

But Australian officials said this period they person a "great woody of confidence" that the pact volition remain.