The foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, Australia and India will meet next week in Australia to advance "the Quad" group's cooperation in areas including the economy, security and the coronavirus pandemic, amid China's growing assertiveness in the region, according to the State Department.
The meeting will be followed by a gathering of the foreign ministers of the United States, Japan and South Korea on Feb. 12 in Hawaii, with talks to focus on ways to address the threat posed by North Korea after its recent barrage of ballistic missile tests.
The events were announced Friday as part of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's itinerary for his weeklong trip to Australia, Fiji and Hawaii starting next Monday.