By Daphne Psaledakis, Simon Lewis (JO:) and Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with counterparts from Australia, India and Japan on Tuesday in a meeting he said would emphasize the importance of working with allies “on issues that matter to America and Americans.”
Rubio, who was sworn in as secretary of state on Monday as President Donald Trump began his second term, hosted colleagues from the Quad, a group of four countries that share concerns about China’s growing power, at the State Department.
The ministers – Australia’s Penny Wong, India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Japan’s Takeshi Iwaya – posed with Rubio in front of their countries’ flags before the meeting, but did not answer questions from reporters.
Analysts said the meeting is intended to signal that confronting Beijing is a top priority for the new president, even as Trump abruptly suspended tariffs on China on his first day back in the White House and did not single it out as a threat. The prospect of rapprochement between rivals.
“Today we have a meeting with the Quad, with foreign ministers from Australia, India and Japan, to reaffirm the importance of working with allies around the world on issues that matter to America and Americans, and that’s who I am.” Focused on moving forward,” Rubio told NBC’s Today show before being sworn in.
Trump officials were also working to schedule another meeting of foreign ministers at the White House, a person involved in planning the meetings said.
The meetings could set the stage for Wednesday’s summit of heads of state early in Trump’s presidency, said one person involved in the planning meetings. Sources familiar with the plan said Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba could meet in Washington next month.
Australia’s Wong, who met his Indian and Japanese counterparts in Washington over the weekend, said inviting the foreign ministers from the four countries to attend Trump’s inauguration showed a commitment to close cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
“This is a demonstration of the collective commitment of all countries to the Quad at a time when close cooperation in the Indo-Pacific is very important,” Wong said on Sunday.
Rubio will meet separately with the three foreign ministers on Tuesday.
The Quad group met many times during the administration of former President Joe Biden, focusing on Beijing’s military and economic activities in the Indo-Pacific, particularly in the South China Sea, where US allies have pushed back on Beijing’s territorial claims.
The group also pledged to improve cooperation in cyber security to protect supply chains and critical infrastructure, including submarine cables.
For Australia, it will be important to secure assurances from Washington on the massive AUKUS defense project, which is designed to allow Australia to acquire nuclear attack submarines and other advanced weapons such as hypersonic missiles.
China has denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and says the AUKUS alliance will fuel a regional arms race.