Biden administration has vowed to commit more resources to the Indo-Pacific as China seeks to boost economic, military and police links with Pacific island nations hungry for foreign investment.
India’s External Affairs Minister Jaishankar says New Delhi "fully supports a strong, unified, prosperous ASEAN" as he holds a meeting with foreign ministers of Southeast Asian countries.
Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe slams US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, rejecting his "smearing accusation" and saying Washington is seeking to advance its own interests "under the guise of multilateralism."
Japan, which has committed itself to non-violence officially since WWII, might turn away from its pacifist stance as Russian, Chinese belligerence mounts tensions across the Pacific region.
A joint statement by the so-called Quad bloc made no mention of China or Russia, but listed a range of activities that Beijing has regularly been accused of in the region and touched upon the Ukraine conflict.
The United States is looking to strengthen its economic partnership with Taiwan "on a bilateral basis", White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.
The Indo-Pacific countries and the United States will monitor illegal fishing even when boats turn their transponders off to go under the radar.
The deal cuts tariffs on more than 85 percent of Australian exports to India, as the two countries gear up for negotiations on a full trade pact amid hopes that it would be signed by the end of the year.
Prime Minister Morrison says he understood the French government's "disappointment" but said he had raised issues with the deal "some months ago", as had other Australian government ministers.
France said it was recalling its ambassadors in the United States and Australia for consultations following Australia's decision to scrap a big French conventional submarine purchase in favour of nuclear subs built with US technology.
"This brutal, unilateral, and unpredictable decision reminds me a lot of what Mr Trump used to do," says FM Jean-Yves Le Drian, accusing US President Biden of stabbing Paris in back and acting like his predecessor Trump.
Beijing slams Western allies and their new alliance under which Canberra will acquire nuclear submarine technology, calling it "extremely irresponsible".
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