WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States, India andJapan will hold their first trilateral meeting this month asWashington pushes ahead with its ``pivot'' toward Asia, whereChina's growing power has raised concern.
The State Department said the three countries would meet inWashington on Dec. 19, represented by senior diplomats.
``This meeting is going to be an opportunity to holdcomprehensive discussion on a range of Asia-Pacific regionalissues,'' State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a newsbriefing.
``As the three leading Pacific democracies, we look forwardto productive exchanges with India and Japan.''
The meeting is the latest sign of the Obamaadministration's drive to push back against Chinese influencein the Asia-Pacific region and strengthen existing alliances.
President Barack Obama recently returned from an Asian tourthat stressed U.S. interests in the region. Secretary of StateHillary Clinton last week visited Myanmar, offering theprospect of improved ties with a resource-rich country thatanalysts said had been seen as an economic and politicalsatellite of Beijing.
The United States has also sought to consolidate relationswith other regional powers, including Australia and Indonesia,in what U.S. officials described as a policy ``pivot'' towardAsia as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down.
Political analysts said that while the three countriesshare a range of interests including on trade and nuclearissues, the primary focus of this month's meeting was likely tobe China.
``China is the big strategic driver of the interest of allthree sides but this builds on trends that we've seen for sometime now,'' said Richard Fontaine, a senior adviser at theCenter for a New American Security think-tank.
India and Japan both have their own concerns about China,which is leveraging its economic strength to become moreassertive and beef up its military, including eventuallydeveloping its own aircraft carrier.
Those concerns have been particularly pronounced in theSouth China Sea, where the United States has urged China not toallow competing territorial claims to jeopardize the securityof waterways essential to Asian trade.
U.S. officials have emphasized that their aim is not tothreaten China, but Beijing has reacted nervously and warnedWashington not to take steps which could fan Cold War-styleantagonism.
The United States already has a strong securityrelationship with Japan, and has been working to developsimilar ties with India, including forming a possible three-waysecurity pact with New Delhi and Canberra.
Fontaine said the three-way meeting could fan fears of''encirclement'' in Beijing, which is embarking on a delicateperiod of political transition as Chinese President Hu Jintaoprepares to hand off power to Vice President Xi Jinping inearly 2013.
``From the Chinese standpoint they would see this as notparticularly worrisome in and of itself, but as the latestpiece of a developing pattern of behavior in the Indo-Pacificregion,'' Fontaine said. (Reporting by Andrew Quinn; editing by Anthony Boadle)