Is the Philippines seeking to formalise the ‘Squad’ alliance with its partners?

An agreement between Australia, the United States, Japan and the Philippines to set up an Indo-Pacific defence council could mark the first step towards the “Squad” group of nations maturing into a formal minilateral grouping.

Defence leaders of the four countries met on the sidelines of the Asean Defence Ministers Meeting Plus on Saturday in Kuala Lumpur, where they “expressed support for the framework to establish the Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defence Cooperation Council”.

The countries said they discussed progress on information sharing, joint training and operational coordination. They also raised concern “regarding China’s destabilising actions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea” and expressed “continued support for Asean’s central role in shaping the future of the region”.

Saturday’s meeting marked the fifth among the defence chiefs of the four countries in the last three years.

The “Squad” first met on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, the region’s premier security forum, in Singapore in 2023.

In April last year, the four countries also carried out joint patrols in the South China Sea, within an area that Manila considers to be its exclusive economic zone.