Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Japan on Monday for meetings meant to reaffirm America’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific region and to the two nations’ alliance.

In the statement issued with their Japanese counterparts, Blinken and Austin said, “China’s behavior, where inconsistent with the existing international order, presents political, economic, military and technological challenges to the alliance and to the international community.”

The US and Japan committed themselves to opposing coercion and destabilizing behavior towards others in the region that undermines the rules-based international system, they added.