TOKYO: The foreign ministers of Japan and New Zealand agreed on Monday to speed up talks on an intelligence sharing pact as the two island nations vowed to strengthen security ties and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region amid shared concern over an increasingly assertive China.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and her Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, also agreed during their talks in Tokyo to collaborate on priority issues for Pacific Island nations such as climate change, maritime security and infrastructure.

The two countries pledged to ensure that the Pacific Island region, where China’s influence is rapidly expanding, remains stable and prosperous and free from foreign interference and coercion, and that the “rights, freedoms and sovereignty of all countries regardless of size or power are protected,” according to a statement released by Japan’s Foreign Ministry.

Hayashi said Japan, under its new National Security Strategy, is strengthening cooperation with like-minded countries to maintain and expand the “free and open” international order, and that cooperation with New Zealand is extremely important.

Hayashi said he and Mahuta agreed to “accelerate an early conclusion of an information security agreement, which will be a foundation of security and defense cooperation between the two countries.”

AP