Expect more joint South China Sea patrols, US says ahead of summits with allies
Japan last weekend, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday, ahead of U.S. summits this week with the Japanese and Philippine leaders.
Warships from the four nations staged the exercises on Sunday following stepped up Chinese pressure on the Philippines in the disputed strategic waterway.
U.S. President Joe Biden hosts Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington on Wednesday and the two and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos will meet on Thursday for talks that will include ways to push back against China.
«On the naval patrols, we just saw trilateral plus Australia, a new form of quadrilateral joint naval patrols last week, so you can expect to see more of that in the future,» Sullivan told a regular White House briefing while previewing the summits.
Sullivan also said Washington and its existing Australian and British partners in the AUKUS security pact would explore possible Japanese involvement in Pillar II of the project, something the Biden-Kishida summit would address.
«We're prepared to work with additional partners beyond the three of us, where they can bring capabilities, and Japan is one of the countries that could very well bring capabilities to that,» Sullivan said.
«Japan could be a critical contributor,» he said. «You will see when they speak tomorrow, an indication that that's the direction we're moving in.»
Sullivan said Biden and Kishida would announce measures to enhance defense and security cooperation and in space exploration.
In an interview with Japan's
