Foreign ministers from Quad countries — India, Australia, Japan and the United States– in a joint statement reaffirmed their shared commitment to strengthening a free and open Indo-Pacific where “sovereignty and territorial integrity are upheld and defended.”
The Quad nations also expressed strong opposition “to any unilateral actions aimed at changing the status quo through force or coercion.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Quad counterparts – India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Japan’s Takeshi Iwaya, and Australia’s Penny Wong – at the US Department of State here on Tuesday.
After the meeting, Quad foreign ministers issued a joint statement and stated ‘preparing for the next Quad Leaders’ Summit hosted by India’
“We, the Secretary of State of the United States and the Foreign Ministers of Australia, India, and Japan, met today in Washington DC to reaffirm our shared commitment to strengthening a Free and Open Indo-Pacific where the rule of law, democratic values, sovereignty, and territorial integrity are upheld and defended,” according to the Joint Statement by the Quad Foreign Ministers shared by the Secretary of State of the United States.
“Our four nations maintain our conviction that international law, economic opportunity, peace, stability, and security in all domains including the maritime domain underpin the development and prosperity of the peoples of the Indo-Pacific,” the statement added.
