During their talks in Hawaii, the ministers also "strongly condemned" China's ballistic missile launches across the Taiwan Strait in August after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, the Japanese Defense Ministry said."We will continue to strengthen trilateral cooperation to contribute to the realization of a free and open Indo-Pacific," Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters after meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles.Hamada also said the ministers confirmed their opposition to "any act that escalates tensions" in reference to the Chinese test-firings of ballistic missiles, some of which fell in Japan's exclusive economic zone.China conducted large-scale military drills in response to Pelosi's trip to Taiwan, which China regards as a breakaway province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.The meeting came as Japan has been discussing ways to update its National Security Strategy and two other key documents on defense policy by the end of the year."