CANBERRA Australia , Japan and the U.S. have committed to closer military cooperation in training their forces as the countries deepened their ties in a bid to counter China's military strength. Australia's Minister of Defense Richard Marles hosted the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japan's Defence Minister Gen Nakatani, yesterday for the trilateral ministers' meeting, the first to be held in Australia. Under the new agreement, Japan's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, an elite