The U.S. and Japan have agreed to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region, inviting India and Australia to also join the challenge. But the partners face the delicate task of not becoming a simple alliance against China.
Trump and Abe, appearing in a joint press conference Monday, stressed the importance of their strategy. Preserving freedom of the seas is "critical to the peace and prosperity" of the Indo-Pacific region, Abe said, adding that Japan and the U.S. "will play a leading role" in doing so.
"We're going to work to straighten a lot of things out, including trade, including military problems," said Trump. "We have a lot of things to work on."