Defense chiefs from the U.S., Australia, Japan, and the Philippines gathered in Hawaii for their second-ever joint meeting on May 2. The meeting focused on deepening cooperation amid concerns about China's operations in the South China Sea.
The meeting followed the four countries' first joint naval exercises in the South China Sea last month. The exercises aimed to strengthen the nations' ability to work together, build bonds among their forces, and underscore their shared commitment to international law in the waterway.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hosted the defense chiefs at the U.S. military's regional headquarters, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, at Camp H.M. Smith in the hills above Pearl Harbor. Earlier in the day, Austin had separate bilateral meetings with Australia and Japan followed by a trilateral meeting with Australia and Japan.
The U.S. has decades-old defense treaties with all three nations. The U.S. lays no claims to the South China Sea, but has deployed Navy ships and fighter jets in what it calls freedom of navigation operations that have challenged China's claims to virtually the entire waterway. The U.S. says freedom of navigation and overflight in the waters is in America's national interest.
Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the resource-rich sea. Beijing has refused to recognize a 2016 international arbitration ruling that invalidated its expansive claims on historical grounds.
Skirmishes between Beijing and Manila in particular have flared since last year. Earlier this week, Chinese coast guard ships fired water cannons at two Philippine patrol vessels off off Scarborough Shoal, damaging both.
The repeated high-seas confrontations have sparked fears of a larger conflict that could put China and the United States on a collision course. The U.S. has warned repeatedly that it's obligated to defend the Philippines — its oldest treaty ally in Asia — if Filipino forces, ships, or aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
President Joe Biden's administration has said it aims to build what it calls a “latticework” of alliances in the Indo-Pacific even as the U.S. grapples with the Israel-Hamas war and Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Beijing says the strengthening of U.S. alliances in Asia is aimed at containing China and threatens regional stability.