The leaders of Japan and Australia are planning to release a new declaration on security cooperation when they meet next weekend, amid China's growing military power and maritime assertiveness, government sources said Sunday.
The declaration highlighting the importance of a "free and open Indo-Pacific" will likely be announced by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, who are scheduled to hold talks on Saturday in Perth, according to the sources.
It would be a revamp of the document signed in 2007 by then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Prime Minister John Howard that recognized "common strategic interests and security benefits embodied in their respective alliance relationships with the United States."