Leaders from the United States, Japan and Australia discussed ways to better engage another large democracy, India, at a three-way security meeting Saturday, the Associated Press reported. At the one hour meeting over a breakfast of pastries and fresh fruit, U.S. President George W. Bush and the prime ministers of Australia and Japan, John Howard and Shinzo Abe, also talked about China, the Iraq war, North Korea and climate change. The leaders, who are in Sydney for a separate summit of Pacific Rim economies, arranged their first ever three-way security meeting to deepen ties among the democratic countries. The countries have two-way alliance agreements among them but no formal three-way treaty. «This was an opportunity to talk about a range of different issues but certainly to focus on India and the importance of that country to us in the Asia-Pacific region and to the broader geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region,» Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told reporters. The U.S., Japan and Australia, joined by frequent partner Singapore, held a combined military exercise off India's east coast last week with the Indian defense forces. The stated purpose of the games was to practice tactics to fight terrorism and piracy but the exercise comes as China's navy grows more active in the Indian Ocean. In a separate meeting with Abe, Bush praised Japan's naval mission in the Indian Ocean for providing fueling and logistical support to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. A law authorizing the mission expires in November and Washington has urged Tokyo to renew it. «The role that Japan plays in this fight is a vital role, and it's a necessary role,» Bush said.
