SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD J. AUSTIN III: Well, Secretary Galvez, it's great to see you again so soon after my trip to Manila in February and it is a pleasure to host you at the Pentagon. So thanks for taking the time to meet again after a very productive Two Plus Two ministerial dialogue yesterday.
And as I've said yesterday, this is an historic moment for our lives. As we take critical steps together to deepen our ties and strengthen peace and stability in the region. We share a vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. One grounded in transparency, freedom of navigation, the rule of law, respect for sovereignty and the peaceful resolution of disputes.
Now those principles have faced growing challenges lately. We've seen a troubling increase in coercion and dangerous operational behavior, including in the South China Sea. And we remain deeply committed to our alliance obligations.
And as we've made abundantly clear, the mutual defense treaty applies to armed attacks on either of our armed forces, our public vessels or aircraft anywhere in the South China Sea.
Now I'm proud of the rapid strides that we've made to modernize our alliance, Mr. Secretary. We've made important progress to bolstering the capabilities and capacities of our armed forces to resist coercion and gray zone aggression.
And we're close to finalizing a security sector assistance roadmap that charts a path forward to strengthen deterrence and align our defense investments with the evolving security...
Published on: Washington: India’s Operation Sindoor, launched following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 civilians were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists,...