As China increases its activities in the South China Sea, Japan, the United States, Australia, and the Philippines issued a joint statement, and on the 7th, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the militaries of each country jointly conducted joint activities in the South China Sea for the first time, marking it as a "maritime joint operation." They announced that they would be training.
In March, in the waters of Second Thomas Shoal, which is under the effective control of the Philippines in the South China Sea, a Chinese Coast Guard ship fired water cannons at a carrier ship headed for a Philippine military base, resulting in injuries.
Against this backdrop, Japan, the United States, Australia, and the Philippines issued a joint statement on the 6th, announcing that they would conduct "cooperative maritime activities" within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.
According to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the joint exercise will involve the destroyer Akebono, a US Navy littoral combat ship, and frigates from the Royal Australian Navy and Philippine Navy.
This is the first time that the four countries have conducted joint training as a ``maritime joint activity,'' and the statement states that the aim is to ``strengthen interoperability of tactics, technology, etc.''
How to deal with China in the South China Sea is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion at the Japan-U.S. summit meeting to be held in Washington on the 10th of next week, as well as the trilateral summit meeting that will include the Philippines on the 11th of next week.