Fiji, Feb. 24 -- Japan's Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has called for stronger regional interconnectivity to safeguard the Pacific as an "Ocean of peace," warning that the region faces three interconnected security challenges.

Delivering his keynote address titled "The Pacific - at the centre of resilient connectivity" at the Japan-Pacific Islands Defence Dialogue (JPIDD) on Monday, Koizumi said the Pacific "has never been a wall that divides us" but a shared space binding nations together.

"To safeguard the Pacific as the 'Ocean of peace'," he said, "with you-the custodians of the Blue Pacific Continent-at the very centre, let us strengthen the bonds among all those gathered in this hall, and together build a region that is autonom...