India, Japan and Australia share the increasing concern over the aggressive attitude of China, according to Japan's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Akitaka Saiki.
Saiki was in Delhi to participate in the first trilateral meeting in New Delhi between the Foreign Secretaries of India, Japan and Australia.
He said the issue was discussed at length at the meeting on Monday and "all the countries are on the same page as Japan".
Saiki was responding to a question after his talk on "Japan's Foreign Policy - Strategy and Practice" at Observer Research Foundation on Tuesday. The talk was chaired by Prof. K.V. Kesavan, Distinguished Fellow, ORF.
During the talk, Saiki said China's increasingly aggressive attitude is a cause for grave concern to Japan.
He said the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, East China Sea and South China Sea are linked in security terms and vital for the security of the Indo-Pacific region as a whole.
Japan has reiterated its keenness in participating in the Malabar Exercises. India had postponed a decision on Japan's participation just before PM Modi visited Beijing.
Saiki said China's attitude has changed under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. He said while China under Hu Jintao was reserved, it, under the leadership of Xi, has become "outgoing" in diplomatic parlance.
Saiki said Prime Minister Abe would visit India before the end of the year, and he had discussions with his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar on the preparations to the visit.
Dr. C. Raja Mohan stressed the need for Japan to decide on the nuclear cooperation and increase the defence relations to make the meaning of special partnership between the two countries a reality.
