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By Shivam Patel
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Japan has said that it backed close security cooperation with South Korea and India in the Indo-Pacific, days after the Philippines' military chief said a U.S.-backed security group wanted both nations to join to counter China in the region.
Japan's Ministry of Defense said in a statement to Reuters on Monday that it supported building a multi-layered network of alliances in general, and but declined to say whether it has given its consent or made any specific considerations on the expansion of the Squad group.
The Squad is an informal multilateral grouping made up of Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States, focused on defence cooperation, intelligence sharing, and joint military exercises and operations.
"It is important to build networks among allies and like-minded countries organically and in a multi-layered manner, as well as to expand such networks and strengthen deterrence, as Japan faces the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II," Japan's Ministry of Defense said.
It added that the ministry "believes that close cooperation among regional partners, including Australia, the Philippines, as well as the Republic of Korea and India is extremely important from the perspective of realizing a 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific', while the Japan-U.S. Alliance remains at its core."
General Romeo S. Brawner, military chief of the Philippines, said at a security forum in New Delhi last week that Squad nations were trying to include India and South Korea in the grouping to counter China. His remarks followed a series of escalating confrontations between Manila and Beijing over the past couple of years in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
India's defence ministry and South Korea's embassy in India did not respond to a request for comment.
Christopher Elms, the spokesperson of the U.S. Embassy in India, told Reuters last week that, "The United States will continue to work with all of our partners to continue to advance a more secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region".
Australia's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
