The U.S. government hopes to "institutionalize" the so-called Quad grouping that also involves Australia, India and Japan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday, emphasizing that the currently informal dialogue is aimed at countering China's clout in the region.
"We have begun to build out a set of relationships all throughout Asia that are enabling us to challenge the Chinese Communist Party. ... And one of the tools that we use is this set of relationships with four powerful democracies," Pompeo told a radio talk show host.
The interview took place after Pompeo traveled to Japan where he attended a Quad meeting on Tuesday, the second such gathering of the four countries' foreign ministers following the first in New York in September last year.