NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. agreed to jointly build a port in Fiji and signed pacts covering critical minerals and energy security, as they sought to inject fresh energy into their grouping known as the Quad.
The brief meeting between the countries’ top diplomats – Australia’s Penny Wong, India’s S. Jaishankar, Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio – was the third such gathering of the Quad since September 2024.
The group unveiled its first joint infrastructure project, a port in Fiji.
“We are going to be partnering on issues of port infrastructure, in particular in response to insufficient port capacity in the Pacific Islands, we are announcing plans to work with Fiji,” Rubio said.
The four-nation group had lost some momentum last year after failing to hold a leaders’ summit, amid tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Washington’s tariffs and other matters.
“We are beginning to show real achievements and real accomplishments,” Rubio said. “We are deeply committed to this partnership. It is a linchpin and a cornerstone of our global strategy as a nation in the United States.”
He said the group agreed to launch an initiative on Indo-Pacific Energy Security and a critical minerals framework.
The minerals framework will guide how to leverage economic policy tools and coordinate investment to strengthen critical minerals supply chains – including in mining and processing – and in critical minerals recycling, Rubio said.
The initiative could be significant for Japan after China halted shipments of some minerals used in aerospace, defence and semiconductor industries following a diplomatic dispute.
New Delhi has pressed for a Trump visit to India, a trip that would probably be tied to a Quad summit. Analysts have questioned whether a lack of leader-level engagement has downgraded the Quad’s importance.
The foreign ministers did not comment on the possibility of a summit this year, but over the weekend, Rubio said that diplomats would work toward a meeting later this year.
“The absence of a leaders’ summit has raised some doubts, but that does not necessarily indicate declining importance,” said Premesha Saha, a senior policy fellow at the Asia Society Australia in Melbourne.
“If the Quad can keep delivering at the ministerial and working levels, it can remain relevant even without regular leaders-level signalling.”
The Quad countries share concerns about China’s growing power and Rubio has stressed the importance of maintaining a “free and open Indo-Pacific”.
A joint statement from the four countries said they remained “seriously concerned about the situation in the East China Sea and the South China Sea” as well as the “militarisation of disputed features” in the South China Sea.
They also condemned attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the Middle East and said they were opposed to the imposition of tolls, stressing on safety and uninterrupted flow of global commerce through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea and has built military facilities on disputed features. Several Southeast Asian countries also claim parts of the sea. China and Japan have a separate dispute over territory in the East China Sea.
Beijing has criticised the Quad as a Cold War-style grouping aimed at containing its development.
On Tuesday, it said cooperation between countries should contribute to regional peace, stability and prosperity, and should not target any third party.
“We also do not support the formation of exclusive cliques or bloc confrontation. No cooperation should undermine mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries,” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, told a daily press conference.
