Quad Foreign Ministers Meet in Tokyo

Foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the United States - a grouping known as the 'Quad' - met in Tokyo for talks expected to focus on maritime security and initiatives to build up cyber defenses.

The talks attended by Australia's Penny Wong, India's Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japan's Yoko Kamikawa and Antony Blinken from the U.S., follow security discussions between Tokyo and Washington where the allies labeled China the "greatest strategic challenge" facing the region.

In her opening remarks, Kamikawa highlighted the need to build up cybersecurity capability and provide training opportunities in maritime security to protect and develop prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.

Japan provides a base for the US to project military power in Asia, hosting 54,000 American troops, hundreds of US aircraft and Washington’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group.

The U.S announced plans for a major revamp of its military command in Japan to deepen coordination with its ally's forces.

It was among several measures taken to address what the U.S. and Japan said was an "evolving security environment," noting various threats from China including its increasingly muscular maritime activities in the East and South China Seas.

U.S. secretary of state antony blinken, saying: "Now, we have conflicts, Gaza, Ukraine, South Sudan, they get a lot of attention, understandably they get attention from us, they get attention in the media but even as we are doing what we need to do, what we must to try to bring these conflicts to an end, and to try to (inaudible), we have not lost sight indeed. We're resolutely focused on this region that we share."

The ministers said in a joint statement that the new command structure would be implemented in parallel with Tokyo’s own plans to establish a joint command for its forces by March 2025.