Washington [US], June 6: After much bilateral and multilateral cooperation, the US, along with Japan, Australia and the Philippines seem to be moving towards forming a quadrilateral alliance to deal with threats, including in the South China Sea.
Recently, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue taking place in Singapore, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Australian Deputy Prime Minister - Defense Minister Richard Marles, Japanese Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu and Philippine Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez had talks. According to Nikkei Asia , at the meeting, the four ministers agreed to strengthen security cooperation to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
This is the first time that the four countries have had a four-way defense ministerial meeting, this event takes place in the context that the US - Japan - Australia - Philippines have recently increased their military cooperation both multilaterally and bilaterally as well as in the past. together. From June 1 to June 6, the US, along with Japan and the Philippines, held joint patrol exercises in the East Sea for the first time. Australia participated in the exercise as an observer. In early February, the US and the Philippines also revealed that they were considering sending their coast guard forces to jointly patrol the South China Sea - a move seen as a response to China 's gray zone strategy. in this sea. Also in February, answering to Nikkei Asia while visiting Japan, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. affirmed that "protecting the territorial waters" of the Philippines in the South China Sea is central to efforts to strengthen security agreements with the US and Japan. Speaking of military deals with the US and Japan, he stated: "We don't want to be provocative, but... we feel that cooperation will help ensure safe navigation in the South China Sea . And moreover, we are doing all we can to protect our maritime sovereignty."
The above moves raise the question of whether the US - Japan - Australia - the Philippines are forming an alliance in the form of the "Quad" (US - Japan - Australia - India)? To clarify this issue, international experts made some comments when replying to ThanhNien on June 5.
Source: ThanhNien Newspaper