TOKYO: Japan, the United States and the Philippines will hold their first trilateral maritime consultation in Tokyo on Tuesday, the Japanese government said Friday.

The three countries will exchange opinions on the situation in the South China Sea, where China has been stepping up activities, and talk about how to work together to maintain and strengthen a free and open maritime order based on the rule of law.

The countries decided to set up such maritime meetings at a trilateral summit in April.

NAKAMURA Ryo, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department, will chair the gathering, which will be also attended by Mira Rapp-Hooper, senior director for East Asia and Oceania at the U.S. National Security Council, and Maria Theresa Lazaro, undersecretary of the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department.

JIJI Press