It will be the first time that talks will take place between the four-member Quad heads of state, and it comes at a time when the four countries see increased tensions with China on a variety of issues.
“It is confirmed that the Quad meeting will take place soon, probably on Friday,” said the source.
The Quad, or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is an informal strategic forum for the four nations involved and has been presenting semi-regular summits and exchanges of information.
But the meetings never involved the four heads of state, currently US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Although not a formal military alliance like NATO, the Quad is seen by some as a potential counterweight to the growing Chinese influence and alleged aggression in the Asia-Pacific region. The comparison was denounced by Beijing as an anti-China bloc.
Morrison previewed the negotiations at a news conference last week.
“The Quad is very important to the United States and our thinking about the region,” said Morrison.
“It will become a feature of Indo-Pacific engagement. But it will not be a big bureaucracy with a big secretariat and that sort of thing. There will be four leaders, four countries, working together constructively for peace, prosperity and stability in Indo-Pacific, it’s good for everyone in the Indo-Pacific, “said the Australian Prime Minister.
Joint military exercises
In the military part of the Quad, cooperation has increased over the past year through bilateral agreements between Quad partners and joint military exercises.
Last November, Australia joined Malabar’s annual exercises with the USA, Japan and India. Conducted annually since 1992, maneuvers have grown in size and complexity in recent years to deal with what the U.S. Navy previously described as a “variety of shared threats to maritime security in Indo-Pacific Asia”.
Australia’s participation meant that all four Quad members were involved in the exercises for the first time since 2007.
All four have seen turbulent relations with China in recent years.
Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a military confrontation along the Royal Control Line – the de facto border between the two countries in the Himalayas – in June, which left soldiers dead on both sides after hand-to-hand combat.
Relations between Beijing and New Delhi have been frozen since then, with the emergence of commercial and technological disputes.
The United States, for its part, has increased the pace of its naval and air missions in the South China Sea, while rejecting Beijing’s claims about the vast channel. It also increased support for Taiwan’s autonomous government, which Beijing claims as its sovereign territory.
Asia and China have been the main focus of the Biden government’s foreign policy since taking office on January 20.
It will be the first international trip by Biden Cabinet officials since the inauguration of the President of the United States.
Japanese leader must visit Washington
Kato said at a daily news conference on Monday that the Japan-US summit would take place, but the date and details have not been decided.
If confirmed, Suga will be the first international leader to visit the White House under the Biden government.
Blinken cited the US relationship with Beijing this month as “the greatest geopolitical test of the 21st century”. He said that it is necessary to engage China from a position of strength that can only be done alongside allies and partners.
“China is the only country with the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to seriously challenge the stable and open international system – all the rules, values and relationships that make the world work the way we want,” Blinken said in the speech on national security strategy of the Biden government.
CNN’s Junko Ogura contributed to this report.