Australia to host Quad meeting of Foreign Ministers this month

Australia will host a two-day Quadrilateral meeting of the Foreign Ministers this month.

Australia will host a Quad meeting of Foreign Ministers in Melbourne this month, as reported by Sky News Australia

Counterparts from India and Japan will join the US and Australia for the two-day summit, which will also discuss the crisis in Ukraine and threats to national and regional security.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute Mark Watson says the Quad reinforces the fact Australia "sits as the hinge on the Indo-Pacific".

"It means that Australia is now at the centre of an interlocking geometry of bilateral, trilateral, and quadrilateral arrangements," he said.

"It is about sending a message to China that if you're going to bully a country like Australia if you're going to undertake economic coercion and other forms of coercion, you run a risk," he added.

The Quadrilateral Security Initiative 2.0 was formed on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and East Asia Summit held in November 2017 with the proposal for the maritime alliance being mooted by Japan.

( With inputs from ANI )