TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The US, South Korea, and Japan underscored the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait in a joint statement released Tuesday (Sept. 10).

South Korean Deputy Minister for National Defense Policy Cho Chang-rae, US Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Cara Abercrombie, and Japan Director General for Defense Policy Yamato Taro held the 15th Defense Trilateral Talks in Seoul on Tuesday.

The three defense officials said their positions on Taiwan remain unchanged and that regional peace is “an indispensable element of security and prosperity in the international community.” They also called for the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues.

The officials discussed recent maritime and air military activities in the Indo-Pacific and reiterated their respective stances on China's actions in the South China Sea. They also stressed the importance of fully respecting freedom of navigation and overflight.

The US reaffirmed its “ironclad commitment” to defending South Korea and Japan, including with nuclear weapons if necessary.

The trilateral meeting follows the July summit between the top defense officials of the three countries. The officials signed the Memorandum of Cooperation on the Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework, which normalized trilateral security cooperation including information sharing and defense exchanges. The agreement aims to uphold peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. 

To beef up its defense links with the US, Taiwan is sending a military delegation to establish communication channels with defense research institutions and gain practical industry experience next May.

The group will travel to the US for a nine-day visit, stopping at the Pentagon’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the Office of Net Assessment, among other relevant agencies and private defense technology innovation firms. The trip will facilitate smoother execution of Taiwan's defense goals and enhance capabilities, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said.