MELBOURNE, 1 February 2022: India’s Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar is likely to visit Australia this month. This will be his first visit to Australia, to attend the Quad (Australia, US, India, and Japan) in-person meeting of foreign ministers. Australia is hosting the Quad foreign Ministers meeting the Australia government says, reports Reuters. No date has been specified.
The report adds: “Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne did not specify a date for the meeting, but said in a statement she looked forward to welcoming the Quad foreign ministers to Australia in coming weeks.
“We are a vital network of liberal democracies cooperating to give our region strategic choices, with a focus on practical steps to build the resilience and sovereignty of all states,” Payne said.”
“Among likely agenda items for the meeting are their cooperation in such fields as security and the economy toward realizing a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” and concerns over Beijing’s military assertiveness in the East and South China seas, according to the sources,” says Japan’s Kyodo news agency.
An annoyed China in a Global Times article said, ” The US rallied its allies and partners worldwide to create small cliques and blocs such as G7, Five Eyes, QUAD and AUKUS, trying to divide the world into different camps, just like what it did during the Cold War.”
