The defense ministers of Japan and India have agreed to deepen cooperation between their forces, including starting discussions toward establishing a senior officer-level dialogue body, as China continues to expand its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh also affirmed that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the Indian military will increase their joint exercises, Nakatani told reporters after their talks in New Delhi.

The envisaged dialogue body will be in charge of coordinating the overall collaborative work between their forces, according to Japanese government officials.

At the outset of the meeting, which was open to the media, Nakatani said stronger ties between the two countries have become "more important" with the situation surrounding them becoming "growingly complicated and uncertain" at a time U.S. President Donald Trump's commitment to the Indo-Pacific region remains unclear.

Singh told Nakatani that he hopes to continue bilateral defense equipment and technology collaboration with Japan.

Japan has been stepping up security ties with India by increasing joint drills in recent years and reinforcing defense capabilities in the space and cyber domains.

Japan and India have also been discussing a plan to transfer Unicorn communication antennas similar to those installed on a new Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer.

The meeting came after Tokyo approached New Delhi about participating in the Global Combat Air Program, an initiative involving Japan, Britain and Italy to jointly develop a next-generation fighter jet by 2035, according to government sources.

Japan and India are members of the Quad grouping of Indo-Pacific democracies that also includes the United States and Australia. The framework is widely seen as a counterweight to China.

Nakatani is on a four-day trip from Saturday that has also taken him to Sri Lanka.