The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States, Australia and India are likely to meet in Washington on Jan. 21, a day after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Japanese government officials said Monday.
The ministerial meeting of the so-called Quad countries will underscore that the Trump administration is attaching importance to collaboration among the four nations amid the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Quad foreign ministers, including Japan's Takeshi Iwaya, are expected to discuss holding a summit meeting of the four countries' leaders at an early date.
"The Trump administration's emphasis on the Quad will have a significant impact on Indo-Pacific security," Akihisa Nagashima, special adviser to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said in a post on the X social media platform Monday.
The four countries stepped up collaboration under the Quad framework during the first Trump administration to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific. The Quad foreign ministers have met regularly, starting in 2020. The countries held their first summit meeting in 2021.
Collaboration among Quad countries was initially limited to the fight against climate change and some other areas, which has expanded to include maritime security in recent years in the face of China's growing assertiveness in the region.
Iwaya will visit Washington to attend the inauguration of Trump as U.S. president on Jan. 20. He is expected to meet with Marco Rubio, Trump's choice for secretary of state, to lay the groundwork for a proposed summit of Ishiba and Trump.
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