India, Japan, and the United States held the 9th Trilateral Meeting at Joint Secretary/Director General/Assistant Secretary level in New Delhi on 4 April 2018 to hold consultations on regional and global issues of mutual interest.
In a press note, the Ministry of External Affairs of India said:
In accordance with the directions received from their Foreign Ministers, who met in New York on 18 September 2017 on the margins of UNGA, the officials explored practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; counter-proliferation; counter-terrorism; maritime security, maritime domain awareness and HA-DR.
The note also said that the officials reviewed the outcomes of the Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group that met in Washington in February and agreed to continue to collaborate to promote increased connectivity in the Indo-Pacific.
But most importantly the press note highlighted that an open an inclusive Indo-pacific region was also a point of discussion:
“All sides agreed to remain engaged and strengthen cooperation in support for a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through the partnership with countries in the region.”
The trilateral is seen with suspicion by the Chinese as they see it as an attempt to contain its growth however, India has always refused this idea.
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