The meeting takes place at a time when China is showing its willingness to use its military and economic heft to dominate the Indo-Pacific region and Eurasian areas, reports ANI.

The foreign ministers of the Quad countries, which include India, US, Japan and Australia, are going to meet on Oct 6 and have their security dialogue this month in Japan amid increasing military muscle-flexing by China in the Indo-Pacific region.

A report by Japan Times said that the meeting is likely to discuss ways to deal with China’s aggressive posture in the medical field, including vaccine development.

The meeting will be convened by the foreign ministers of these four nations viz. S Jaishankar (India), Mike Pompeo (US), Marise Payne (Australia) and Toshimitsu Motegi (Japan), reports UNI.

Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD, also known as the Quad) is an informal strategic forum between the United States, Japan, Australia and India that is maintained by semi-regular summits, information exchanges and military drills between member countries.

Japanese government sources confirmed that besides the meeting among foreign ministers, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga would interact with top diplomats of these three nations. It is the brain child of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, reports said.

The first meeting of Quad foreign heads took place in New York in September 2019.