According to a source from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), composed of Japan, the United States, Australia, and India, is set to conduct its first joint coast guard training exercise as early as January next year.
The Nikkei Asia quoted the source as saying that the exercise will take place in the waters surrounding Japan.
These training exercises are in response to the increasingly aggressive provocations and security threats posed by China in the East China Sea and South China Sea.
According to data from the Japan Coast Guard, just in November, four Chinese vessels entered the territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands, which are under Japanese administration.
In the South China Sea, tensions have escalated due to conflicts between Chinese coast guard ships and Philippine vessels.
In September, the Quad leaders – President Biden, Indian Prime Minister Modi, Australian Prime Minister Albanese, and then-Japanese Prime Minister Kishida – attended a summit in a high school in Wilmington where President Biden studied.
The joint statement issued after the summit stated, “As four leading maritime democracies in the Indo-Pacific region, we firmly advocate for the maintenance of peace and stability in this dynamic region, which is indispensable for global security and prosperity.”
The leaders of the Quad also announced the launch of a regional maritime security training framework and reached an agreement that starting next year, coast guard personnel from Japan, Australia, and India will receive training on U.S. Coast Guard patrol ships.