Australia-Japan-United States trilateral defense cooperation has supported and enhanced the security and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, and the three countries' defense leaders are committed to ensuring this continues.  Throughout the remainder of this decade, we will work to refine and consolidate the trilateral defense relationship to support the network of existing alliances, forums, and dialogues to meet a variety of common security challenges. 

The Asia-Pacific faces a constantly evolving strategic landscape and increasingly diverse security challenges -- including terrorism, piracy, large scale natural disasters, trafficking in arms, narcotics, and people, cyber threats, a congested and contested space domain, proliferation of missile technology and weapons of mass destruction, and ensuring maritime security and freedom of navigation.  Together, we seek positive and proactive trilateral defense relations based on a common set of democratic values, established habits of cooperation, similar strategic perspectives and a common goal of promoting security and stability in a rules-based international order. 

Defense Ministers of Australia and Japan and the United States Secretary of Defense will develop and implement an action plan that promotes a strong, dynamic and flexible trilateral defense relationship over the remainder of this decade to enhance the security and prosperity of the region.  

The trilateral Security and Defense Cooperation Forum, which provides a regular forum for our defense and foreign affairs communities to engage in strategic dialogue, will work with colleagues in other government offices to recommend ways to enhance interoperability, build cooperative capacity and related skills within our defense forces, and foster practical and efficient multilateral cooperation and capacity building with other nations and with regional forums.

Media contact:

Defence Media Operations 02 6127 1999