A senior US Navy commander in Asia on Thursday welcomed an agreement by Japan and Australia to tighten military cooperation that will bolster the United States in a region where China ’s influence is growing. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Australian leader Scott Morrison on Tuesday agreed in principle on a Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) that will more closely align the US allies through a legal framework allowing each other’s troops to visit for training and to conduct joint military operations. “That kind of agreement is really helpful and encouraging to everybody in the region. We are very supportive of that agreement and we look forward to exercising along right with them,” Vice Admiral William Merz, commander of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, which is headquartered in Japan, said during a round table briefing. Japan and Australia agree on military pact, aiming to keep China at bay The agreement between Canberra and Tokyo, Japan’s first with another country since a similar agreement with Washington in 1960, comes as the two countries work more closely with the United States and India as part of an informal grouping known as the “Quad” as they grow more concerned about Chinese activity in the South China Sea and East China Sea. Suga hosted foreign ministers from the Quad in Tokyo last month before heading to Vietnam and Indonesia to deepen ties with key Southeast Asian nations. Merz, who spoke with Lieutenant General H. Stacy Clardy, the commanding general of III Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, said greater cooperation in the region is not aimed at China. “There is no attempt to contain China or anyone else, we are trying to create an environment of inclusion,” he said. Beijing, which says its intentions in the region are peaceful, has described the Quad as a “mini-Nato”. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) was formed to provide collective security against the then Soviet Union and is still seen as a threat by Russia as it expands to include some European states that were formerly part of the Eastern Bloc. The Japan-Australia agreement also came under similar criticism in China on Tuesday, with the state-backed newspaper the Global Times saying the United States “is using its two anchors in the Asia-Pacific region to push forward the construction of an Asian version of Nato”. A US Navy First Fleet based out of Singapore? Not likely, analysts say Merz also said that India plays an important role as a member of the Quad. “India is very committed to improving this Quad relationship, and the overall impact is just a more stable region,” he said. Merz met the press as the four Pacific powers, which routinely operate together in the Indo-Pacific, conducted the second phase of the “Malabar” exercises in the Northern Arabian Sea following the first phase from November 3 to 6. Malabar started in 1992 as a bilateral drill involving the US and Indian navies, with Japan joining in 2015. Australia returned to the exercises this year after last taking part in 2007. “So, what you’re seeing with India, again, is a relationship that we have been advancing for quite a while now,” Merz said. Additional reporting by Kyodo