In defiance of Chinese warnings, US President Joe Biden called on the United States, known as the Quad, Japan The United States announced on February 18 that it would hold talks with Australia and India in an effort to resume four-way security talks.
The State Department says Secretary of State Anthony Blicken will meet with Quad Secretary of State in a video conference to discuss the COVID-19 epidemic and climate change prevention.
“Negotiations with the Quad Foreign Ministers play a very important role in enhancing our ambitions for openness in the Indo-Pacific region and defining the challenges,” a State Department spokesman told reporters on February 17.
The Quad, launched in 2007, was the brainchild of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was keen to work with allies to balance China’s growing power.
The quadrants held four naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea last November, with Australia participating for the first time in more than a decade. Australia and India have also been on the lookout for Chinese hostilities in the past, which have renewed Quad in recent years as relations with China deteriorated.