Visiting Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe agreed Thursday in Tokyo to bolster cooperation to ensure a "free, open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region" built on a "rule-based order," effectively endorsing Japan's strategy to keep China's growing military power in check in the region.
In a joint statement released the same day, the two leaders also agreed to promote "deeper and broader defense cooperation" this year, including exercises, operations, capacity building and mutual visits by the military forces of the two countries.
Abe has advocated a policy of pursuing a "free and open Indo-Pacific region," which calls for freedom of maritime navigation and opposes any unilateral action to change the status-quo. It is widely seen as designed to urge China to rein in its growing assertiveness at sea.
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