Foreign ministers discuss on future directions of Quad

The Foreign Ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue held a frank discussion on the international situation and on the future direction of the Quad, said Yukiko Okano, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan on Friday.
The meeting of four Quad Foreign Ministers was presided by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi and US State Department Secretary Antony Blinken. “On Quad meeting, this year India is the host and Australia will host the summit meeting. The Four Quad ministers met face to face and had very frank discussions on the current international situations and on the future directions on the quad,” said Okano.
“The four countries decided to promote cooperation and communication with the ASEAN countries in the view of free and open Indo-Pacific, upholding basic principles of now allowing change of status quo unilaterally by force”, she added.
The Quad Ministers during their meeting also discussed the situation in Ukraine and lasting peace in accordance with the international law of the UN charter.
Speaking about Hayashi not attending the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in India due to domestic parliamentary sessions and instead sending Deputy Foreign Minister Kenji Yamada to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the deputy said that his counterpart understood the constraints.
“You may have heard that Hayashi was not able to attend the meetings due to his some commitment…However, he directed Deputy Minister to attend on his behalf. Foreign Minister Jaishankar understood the constraints that our Foreign Minister had”, she said.
On being asked for Japan’s reaction on no Joint communique issued by the G20 Foreign Ministers, Okano said that it is the Chair’s decision and she has no comment on that.