Japan will host a summit of the heads of Pacific islands for two days from Friday in Okinawa.

Japan brings together the heads of countries and islands that have memberships in the Pacific Islands Forum every three years. The first Pacific island summit was held in 1997. The heads of 14 countries and one island have been invited to this year’s gathering.

Japan’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported that the main agenda for the summit used to be human resource exchanges and environmental pollution in the past. But the newspaper said that participants will likely discuss the guarantee of maritime security for the first time in order to keep China in check.

Japan is also planning to discuss defense exchanges with countries and islands in the Pacific region.