TOKYO, October 2. /TASS/: Japanese Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles during talks held October 1 in Hawaii condemned China's actions during the August drills near Taiwan, in which ballistic missiles launched fell within the Japanese exclusive economic zone, the Japanese Defense Ministry said in a statement released on Sunday on its website.
"The Ministers reiterated the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," the ministry said in a statement, "the Ministers shared concerns about the situation in the East and South China Seas and reaffirmed that they oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or any unilateral actions that seek to increase tensions in the area".
The ministers also reaffirmed the intention of Japan, the US and Australia to "expand and strengthen trilateral training and activities in particular as well as promote defense equipment and technology cooperation and effectively exchange information with the view to enhance trilateral interoperability". In addition, Hamada, Austin and Marles agreed to "align the strategies of the three countries to continue to closely work together and remain committed to the region in order to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific and maintain and strengthen the rule-based international order".
The Chinese People's Liberation Army began large-scale military drills with missile firing in six areas of Taiwan's waters in early August. They began a day after the end of a visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which provoked a harsh reaction from Beijing. Because of the planned firing, Chinese authorities warned against allowing civilian aircraft and ships to enter the six areas in question. According to the Japanese Defense Ministry, five of the Dongfeng ballistic missiles launched by China fell within Japan's exclusive economic zone on August 4.
