Prakash Nanda
Although “China” was not uttered by Austin and his guests, Beijing’s growing regional assertiveness was clearly at the top of their agenda.
Accordingly, they agreed on the need for deepening ties and building up interoperability among their forces through a series of bilateral, trilateral, and quadrilateral engagements. Here, the U.S., Japan, and Australia would provide greater security assistance to the Philippines, which is facing a hostile China in a territorial row.
In fact, by inviting the defense minister of the Philippines to the meeting, Austin seems to have indicated well enough that the growing proximity between Manila and Washington in security matters is the natural follow-up to Beijing’s claims virtually of the entirety of the strategic waterway of the Philippines in the South China Sea.
It may be noted that the Philippines had summoned China’s ambassador to Manila on April 25 to protest China’s use of water cannons against government ships on April 23 in the South China Sea, accusing Beijing of “harassment, ramming, swarming, shadowing and blocking, dangerous maneuvers, use of water cannons, and other aggressive actions.”
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