Japan, U.S., Australia, India Affirm Indo-Pacific Cooperation

Tokyo, Oct. 6 (Jiji Press)--The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States, Australia and India agreed Tuesday to cooperate with many other countries that share the same values, including free trade and the rule of law, to achieve the free and open Indo-Pacific vision. The four ministers reached the agreement at a meeting in Tokyo. Touching on the worldwide spread of the novel coronavirus, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the situation worsened because the Communist Party of China staged a cover-up. He called on his counterparts to work together to defeat the pandemic and rebuild the world economy. Mentioning the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, Pompeo also stressed the need to protect people from the Chinese party's corruption, exploitation and coercion. With China in mind, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said that international order has been facing challenges in various fields in recent years. The pandemic has further incited such moves, he warned. Australia's Marise Payne and India's Subrahmanyam Jaishankar emphasized the importance of resolving conflicts based on international law. The meeting among the four countries' foreign chiefs was the first since such talks were held in New York in September last year on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session. END