The United States, India, Japan, and Australia are seeking to ensure rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region

The United States, Japan, Australia and India are set to affirm their commitment in the coming week to a free and open Indo-Pacific region. The Quad’s first ministerial-level multi-party conference will be hosted by Tokyo on October 6. It will be held between Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne. The talks come amid China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

According to a report by Nikkei Asia, Motegi told a press conference that it is timely that foreign ministers of the four nations who share the same ambitions over regional matters exchange views over various challenges.

“The vision of the free and open Indo-Pacific is increasing its value in the post-coronavirus world and I hope to affirm at the foreign ministerial meeting the importance of further deepening coordination with many countries toward realizing this vision,” he said. “The Free and Open Indo-Pacific’s vision is increasingly important in the post-COVID world so we would like to confirm the importance of further deepening the collaboration among us and many other countries to realize the vision,” he was quoted saying by the report.

It pointed out that the United States, Japan, Australia and India had been stepping up cooperation to ensure rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region, “in a veiled counter to China's growing clout in the region”.