Suga, Japanese Prime Minister: "Quad Summit Elevated to a New Stage by Four Countries"

Participation of 4 Countries Including the US, Japan, India, and Australia
Prime Minister Suga "Agreement to Hold In-Person Summit Within the Year"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] "It was a meeting that elevated the four countries?Japan, the United States, Australia, and India?to a new stage."

According to Kyodo News, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga evaluated the 'Quad' four-nation virtual summit held on the night of the 12th (Korean time) in this way, stating to reporters, "we agreed to hold an in-person four-party meeting within this year."

He also added, "From now on, the four countries will firmly cooperate to ambitiously achieve concrete results."

The Quad is regarded as a consultative body among the United States, Japan, India, and Australia to check China's influence, and the first four-nation summit was held that day. Attending the virtual meeting were U.S. President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Suga, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Prime Minister Suga mentioned that the four leaders agreed to continue discussions on important issues including COVID-19 vaccines to strengthen cooperation and to join forces in various fields to support COVID-19 vaccines for developing countries in the Indo-Pacific region. He also conveyed that he expressed deep concern regarding the military coup situation in Myanmar.

Prime Minister Suga stated that he spoke strongly opposing China's unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the waters surrounding the East and South China Seas. China has recently shown movements to secure sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands (Chinese name Diaoyu Islands), which are under Japan's effective control.

Regarding North Korea's abduction issue of Japanese citizens, he emphasized the importance of an immediate resolution and requested cooperation from each leader. Prime Minister Suga proposed cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific, gaining agreement from the other leaders.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.