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First Quad summit meeting likely take place this week
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad is considering holding its first summit in a virtual format on Friday or during the upcoming weekend, one of the sources told Reuters on Monday.
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(left to right) India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pose for photographs before a Quad Indo-Pacific meeting at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on October 6, 2020 in Tokyo. (Agence France Presse/Nicholas Datiche)
T
he United States, Japan, Australia and India plan to hold the first meeting of their leaders this week under the so-called Quad framework, three government sources in Japan said.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad is considering holding its first summit in a virtual format on Friday or during the upcoming weekend, one of the sources told Reuters on Monday.
The meeting would take place days before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin plan to visit Japan and South Korea later this month.
The visit by Blinken and Austin will be the first to the Asian allies by the top US foreign policy and defence officials since the Biden administration took office in January and reflects growing concerns about the challenge posed by a rising China and North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
The United States is looking to strengthen ties with key allies as China takes an increasingly assertive foreign policy approach in the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere in the world.
Kyodo news earlier reported that
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to join the Quad summit and discuss the fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and efforts to tackle climate change, the sources said.
The foreign ministers of the four countries held an online meeting last month, in which they agreed to work toward a "free and open Indo-Pacific" region while strongly opposing any attempts by Beijing to alter the status quo in the East and South China seas by force.
