LONDON – The United States, Britain and Australia will announce talks on April 8 about bringing new members into their Aukus security pact as Washington pushes for Japan to be involved as a deterrent against China, the Financial Times reported.

The announcement by the group’s defence ministers will be related to “Pillar Two” of the pact, which commits the members to jointly developing quantum computing, undersea, hypersonic, artificial intelligence and cyber technology, the newspaper reported on April 6, citing people familiar with the situation.

They are not considering expanding the first pillar, which is designed to deliver nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia, the Financial Times said.

Aukus, formed by the three countries in 2021, is part of their efforts to push back against China’s growing power in the Indo-Pacific region. China has called the pact dangerous and warned it could spur a regional arms race.

US President Joe Biden has sought to step up partnerships with US allies in Asia, including Japan and the Philippines, amid China’s historic military build-up and growing territorial assertiveness.

Mr Rahm Emanuel, the outspoken US Ambassador in Tokyo, wrote in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal on April 3 that Japan was “about to become the first additional Pillar Two partner”.

A senior US administration official told Reuters on April 3 that some sort of announcement could be expected in the coming week about Japan’s involvement, but gave no details.

Mr Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will likely discuss expanding Aukus to include Japan when the President hosts the Prime Minister in Washington on April 10, a source with knowledge of the talks said.

Australia, however, is wary of beginning new projects until more progress has been made on supplying Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines, said the source, who asked not to be identified because the person is not authorised to speak to the media.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles “has said publicly, and to Japan, that we will seek opportunities to engage close partners in Aukus Pillar Two as our work on critical defence and security capabilities progresses”, a spokesman said in a statement.

“Japan is an indispensable defence partner for Australia,” he said.

“Any engagement of additional countries in Aukus Pillar Two projects will be trilaterally decided and announced.”

A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council and China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the FT report.

A Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the ministry could not immediately comment. A British defence ministry spokesperson also had no immediate comment.

While the US is keen to see Japanese involvement in Pillar Two, officials and experts say obstacles remain, given a need for Japan to introduce better cyber defences and stricter rules for guarding secrets.

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, an architect of US Indo-Pacific policy, said on April 3 that the United States was encouraging Japan to do more to protect intellectual property and hold officials accountable for secrets.

“It’s fair to say that Japan has taken some of those steps, but not all of them,” he said.

The US has said for years that other countries in Europe and Asia are expected to join the second pillar of Aukus.

The senior US official said any decisions about who would be involved in Pillar Two would be made by the three Aukus members, whose defence ministers had been considering the questions for many months, based on what countries could bring to the project.

Mr Campbell said that other countries had expressed interest in participating in Aukus.

“I think you’ll hear that we have something to say about that next week and there also will be further engagement among the three defence ministers of the United States, Australia, and Great Britain as they focus on this effort as well,” he told the Centre for a New America Security think tank.

Mr Campbell also said on April 3 the Aukus submarine project could help deter any Chinese move against Taiwan, the democratically governed island that Beijing claims as part of China.

Mr Biden, Mr Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr are to hold a trilateral summit in Washington on April 11. REUTERS