The Japanese and U.S. governments confirmed their commitment to jointly dealing with China's actions that threaten the international order and their aim to realize a "free and open Indo-Pacific," at a meeting of their foreign and defense ministers in Tokyo on Tuesday.
In a joint statement released after the "two-plus-two" meeting, the two sides criticized China by name for its coercive behavior that aims at maritime expansion in the East and South China seas and expressed "serious concerns" over China's coast guard law, which sets conditions for the use of weapons by its coast guard.
The security meeting was the first since Japan and the United States held such talks in Washington in April 2019. It was also first for the administrations of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and President Joe Biden since they took office.
Tuesday's meeting, which lasted about an hour and 20 minutes, was attended by Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi on the Japanese side and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on the U.S. side.
The meeting came less than two months after the inauguration of the Biden administration. It was the first foreign visit for either Blinken or Austin in their new official capacities.
The joint document warned that China's behavior "presents political, economic, military, and technological challenges to the [Japan-U.S.] Alliance and to the international community."
The ministers also criticized the coast guard law as being among "disruptive developments in the region."
Regarding a series of intrusions by Chinese Coast Guard vessels into Japan's territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, the joint statement specified that Tokyo and Washington "remain opposed to any unilateral action that seeks to change the status quo or to undermine Japan's administration of these islands."
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