The top security officials of the Philippines, the United States, and Japan met to examine ways to strengthen "trilateral cooperation."
National Security Advisor (NSA) Akiba Takeo of Japan, NSA Jake Sullivan of the United States, and NSA Eduardo Año of the Philippines met for the first time in Tokyo on June 16.
The National Security Council (NSC) recalled in a statement over the weekend about the security environment tackled in the recent Japan-US, Japan-Philippines, and US-Philippines summit meetings, in which the three NSAs reaffirmed the importance of deepening trilateral cooperation among Japan, the US, and the Philippines, sharing fundamental values of freedom, democracy, and respect for human rights.
Akiba and Año applauded Sullivan's reaffirmation of the US' "ironclad alliance commitments" to both Japan and the Philippines during the meeting.
The three leaders also emphasized the necessity of strengthening trilateral cooperation and response capabilities based on the Japan-US alliance and the Philippines-US alliance in order to ensure Indo-Pacific peace and stability.
All NSAs met to address a wide range of regional security issues, including the South and East China Seas as well as North Korea.
The three also emphasized the significance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
All three NSAs explored prospects for coordinated maritime actions, such as multilateral joint naval drills in Indo-Pacific waters, to support freedom of navigation and the larger rules-based order.
The three NSAs also underscored the need to maintain a free and open maritime order, which was emphasized earlier this month at the first trilateral joint training of the three countries' Coast Guards.
Apart from that, the NSAs agreed to expand trilateral cooperation in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, leveraging their military and civilian HADR capabilities.
In addition, the NSAs agreed to work together to strengthen economic security and resilience.
They also reaffirmed their intention to combat economic coercion in collaboration with other partners.
