MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Japan and Australia agreed Thursday to increase the number of joint military exercises as their government ministers expressed concern over recent violations of Japanese airspace and territorial waters by China.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Japanese Defence Minister Minoru Kihara held a regular summit with their Australian counterparts, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles, in the Australian coastal town of Queenscliff.

They discussed strengthening security cooperation against the backdrop of the ministers’ shared support for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and concerns over China’s increasingly aggressive territorial claims in the South and East China Seas, Wong said.

The ministers agreed to engage more in training exercises involving both air forces after F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters from both countries took part in combat exercises over Japan last year as part of the Bushido Guardian exercise, Marles said.

Next year, Australia will take part for the first time in Orient Shield, the largest annual field exercise between the US military and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces.

Australia and Japan also plan to involve the Japan Self-Defense Force’s Marine Rapid Reaction Amphibious Brigade in annual U.S. Marine training in the northern Australian city of Darwin.

China’s increasingly assertive activity around Japanese waters and airspace is causing concern among Japanese defense officials, who are also concerned about growing military cooperation between the Chinese and Russian air forces.

Japan has filed a formal protest through the Chinese embassy in Tokyo against what it called an incursion into its waters by a Chinese research vessel last weekend.

This followed Tokyo’s protest after a Chinese military aircraft briefly entered southwestern Japanese airspace on Aug. 26. It was the first time the Japan Self-Defense Forces had detected a Chinese military aircraft in Japanese airspace.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian later said his country had “no intention” to violate any country’s airspace.

Kihara confirmed that the incidents had been discussed with his Australian counterparts.

“We express deep concern over these incidents and, in the case of the East China Sea and the South China Sea, we firmly oppose any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo through force or coercion,” Kihara told reporters through an interpreter.

Marles said he and Wong “expressed their support for Japanese sovereignty at that moment.”

“It really underscored our shared commitment to establishing a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region, in our neighborhood,” Marles said.

“The countries of the region, and in fact the whole world, want to live in a world where disputes will be resolved not by force and might, but on the basis of international law,” Marles added.