TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The US is urging Japan and Australia to clarify their contingency plans in the event of a US-China conflict over Taiwan.

Elbridge Colby, under-secretary of defense for policy, has recently been bringing up the issue in talks with Japanese and Australian defense officials, Financial Times cited five people familiar with the discussions as saying.

In a post on X on Saturday, Colby said the US is “restoring deterrence and achieving peace through strength. That includes by urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense.”

A US defense official said the goal of these talks with allies was “to intensify and accelerate efforts to strengthen deterrence in a balanced, equitable way,” according to Financial Times.

The US official added: “We do not seek war. Nor do we seek to dominate China itself. What we are doing is ensuring the United States and its allies have the military strength to underwrite diplomacy and guarantee peace.”

Japan’s defense ministry said it was “difficult to answer the hypothetical question of a ‘Taiwan emergency’.” Multiple Japanese government officials and lawmakers have asserted in recent years that a Taiwan emergency is also a Japanese one.

The Australian embassy in the US did not comment.