U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) prepares for a photo with Australian Foreign Minister Wong Ying-hyun (second right), Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (second left) and Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar (left) at the start of the meeting. Held at the Iikura Hotel in Tokyo.
Kazuhiro Nogi | AFP | Getty Images
The foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the United States – a group known as the “Quad” – are meeting in Tokyo on Monday and are expected to focus on maritime security and efforts to build cyber defences.
The talks, attended by Australia's Wong Yin-hyun, India's S Jaishankar, Japan's Yoko Kamikawa and the United States' Antony Blinken, came after Tokyo and Washington held security discussions on Sunday, with the two allies calling China the “biggest strategic threat” facing the region challenge”.
“We all know that our region and the world are being reshaped. We all know that we are facing the most severe situation in our region in decades,” Huang said in his opening remarks at the start of four-party talks on Monday.
“We all cherish the peace, stability and prosperity of the region, we all know that is not a given, and we all know that we cannot take it for granted.”
In his opening remarks, Kamikawa emphasized the need to build cybersecurity capabilities and provide maritime security training opportunities to protect and develop the prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region.
USA announced plans Japan made major changes to its military headquarters in Japan on Sunday to deepen coordination with its allies' forces.
It is one of several measures taken by the United States and Japan to respond to the “changing security environment,” citing various threats from China, including China's increasing maritime activities in the East and South China Seas.
“Right now, we have conflicts: Gaza, Ukraine, South Sudan, they get a lot of attention, understandably,” Blinken said in his opening remarks at the Quad.
“But even though we are doing what we need to do, what we have to do to try to end these conflicts… we have not lost sight, in fact we are firmly focused on this region that we share.”
After leaving Tokyo, Blinken and Austin will hold security talks with another Asian ally, the Philippines, as the Biden administration seeks to counter an increasingly bold China.
Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Laos on Saturday and reiterated Washington and its partners' desire to maintain a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” according to U.S. minutes of the meeting.