Back To Back Meetings Of QUAD Nations Planned In September, October Amid Growing Chinese Presence In Indo-Pacific 

In a major geopolitical development, the foreign ministers and the national security advisors (NSAs) of the QUAD comprising India, Japan, Australia and the United States (US) are preparing to meet in September and October in the wake of growing Chinese expansionist moves in the Indo-Pacific region, reports Economic Times.

The authorities are engaged in the planning of back-to-back and in-person meetings of the QUAD representatives ahead of the US' presidential elections which are scheduled to be held in November.

“However, no final call has been taken yet even as preparations for the summits are underway”, states the report.

Bygone Friday (28 August), US' NSA Robert O'Brien had revealed that talks on security with India, Australia and Japan are being planned in September and October. He had said that he is likely to meet with Indian NSA Ajit Doval in Hawaii in October, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to meet his counterpart Dr S Jaishankar in September and October.

O'Brien had gone on to explicitly state that the QUAD relationship which has been denounced by China, was coming into its own and likely to pay huge dividends.

In a no-holds-barred fashion, O'Brien went on to assert, "We're seeing a very assertive, a very aggressive China and the US is not going to back down from its long-held principles that the world's ocean ways and international waters should be free for navigation, and the same with space and with air rights and international airspace."