TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In a move seen as directed against China, the trade ministers of Japan, Australia, and India called for an initiative to strengthen supply chains during a video conference Tuesday (Sept. 1), the Bloomberg news agency reported.
Ministers Kajiyama Hiroshi, Simon Birmingham, and Piyush Goyal also called on other interested parties to join the initiative, which is due to get off the ground by the end of 2020.
The move comes as the three countries’ relations with China have been suffering from rising tension over territorial disputes, trade, and the origins of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Japan, Australia, and India are also members of the “Quad” or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with the United States, a loose framework centering on national security consultation, Bloomberg reported. Washington sees the group as the base for a wider security network—an Asia Pacific equivalent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
