A diplomatic war of words between Australia and China over a graphic tweet seemed to finally cool on Thursday as Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison struck a much more conciliatory tone.

India, Japan and Australia have started discussions on launching a trilateral Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) to reduce reliance on China in future.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on August 5 said that establishing an Indo-Pacific alliance will be a "critical priority" for his government, warning the pace of militarization in the region was unprecedented, reported Reuters.