Japan and Australia reaffirm security cooperation as China warns on Indo-Pacific strategy

Japan and Australia’s foreign ministers met in Tokyo to reaffirm their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. They emphasized deepening bilateral security cooperation amid what they described as an increasingly severe regional security environment. The meeting underscored continued alignment between Tokyo and Canberra on shared regional security goals and the need to safeguard maritime security and open access to the Indo-Pacific, using the framework of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP).

China, meanwhile, expressed strong opposition to Japan’s FOIP initiative, calling it an attempt to promote bloc confrontation. Beijing characterized the plan as undermining regional stability and warned Tokyo that it could provoke strategic rivalries rather than foster peace and security in the region.