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Members of 'Quad' Nations to Meet Virtually Later This Week

VOA News

   Leaders of the United States, Japan, Australia and India will hold a
   virtual summit later this week under their informal diplomatic
   framework.

   Anonymous sources in Japan told news outletsthat U.S.President Joe
   Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Australian Prime
   Minister Scott Morrison andIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will
   likely hold talks as early as Friday.
   Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during a ceremony in Kutch district
   in western India, Dec. 15, 2020, in this handout photograph released by
   the Indian Press Information Bureau.

   The expected summit would be the first time the leaders of the
   Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, will meet since its formation
   in 2007. The Quad is consideredto bea counterweight to China's
   increasingly aggressive actions throughout the Asia-Pacific region;
   Beijinghas denounced the Quad as an attempt to contain its development.

   The four-way meeting will take place just daysbefore U.S.Secretary of
   State AntonyBlinkenand Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit Japan
   and South Korea. The trip will be the first overseas mission by Biden
   administration officials since President Biden's inauguration on
   January 20.

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