The Quad also vowed to work towards a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific, a region that has seen increasing Chinese military muscle-flexing in the last few years.
It will be a historic and strategic mistake to insist on taking China as a threat and adversary, or even an enemy, Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fengh said on Sunday as he underlined that the China-United States relationship is at a critical and crucial juncture.
In its annual report to Congress on Tuesday on 'Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025', the US Department of War said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is actively considering and planning for additional military facilities.
United States President Donald Trump said that China 'knows the consequences' if it attacks Taiwan, asserting that Chinese President Xi Jinping understands the situation 'very well'.
Amid US-China trade tensions and economic vulnerabilities, India must seize the 'China +1' opportunity, deepen reforms, secure FTAs, and globalise its firms for long-term growth, suggests Ajay Shah.
India has expressed serious concerns about the West Asia crisis and its potential impact on energy supplies and maritime stability, urging BRICS nations to find practical solutions to geopolitical challenges and unilateral sanctions.
The Bangkok Post reported that Beijing has warned ships to stay away from the region.
'As the PLA higher command is almost dismantled and instability spreads, India needs to be prepared for any eventuality,' cautions China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
Blinken also underlined that diplomacy is the only way to definitively end the Russian conflict in Ukraine.
The Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a tense border standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 5, 2020, when a violent clash between the two sides erupted in the Pangong lake area.
US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus on Sunday said five years ago on September 25, 2015 the Chinese President, standing in the White House Rose Garden, promised 'China does not intend to pursue militarisation' of the Spratly Islands, and China's outposts 'would not target or impact any country'.
A US RC-135S reconnaissance aircraft on Wednesday flew near the ongoing Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) drills in the South China Sea, a day after another US spy plane, a U-2, trespassed into another PLA exercise restricted zone, state-run Global Times reported.
The official told the reporters during a conference call on Friday, ahead of the next week's 2+2 India-US Ministerial in New Delhi, that the Trump administration was providing support to India through defence sales, joint military exercises and information sharing.
Saturday's Quad meeting in Delaware is taking place against the backdrop of China's assertive behaviour in the South China Sea, its sabre-rattling in the Taiwan Strait and increasing footprints in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, asserts Rup Narayan Das.
If they act now, they can reshape the strategic map of Asia without firing a shot. If they wait, the next opportunity will come only after a serious Taiwan Strait incident -- by which time the price will be far higher, and the room for boldness far smaller -- the opportunity may well be lost by then. The question is no longer whether this can or should be done, points out Varun Arya.
Dong, whose age is not known, has served in all major naval divisions in the PLAN.
Karex, the Malaysian company that makes roughly one in five of the world's condoms -- about five billion a year, supplying Durex and Trojan among others -- announced this week that it is raising prices by up to 30 percent. The reason is the Strait of Hormuz.
A naval formation consisting of aircraft carrier Liaoning has conducted take-off and landing drills in the South China Sea.
'We will stand with friends, partners and allies to advance our shared prosperity, security and values in the Indo-Pacific region'
The coming together of the Quad and the Australia-UK-US grouping would be a formidable adversary, moving toward the creation of a 'thousand ship navy' that reins in the PLA navy in the Indo-Pacific.
Vice Admiral K Swaminathan highlights concerns over Pakistan's arms procurement and China's growing assertiveness in the Indian Ocean Region.
No one should make China an issue in their bilateral relations and their cooperation should not harm the interests of another country, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday reacting to queries on the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Trump.
This is the first time in decades that China has made its flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile public in an apparent show of strategic deterrence, State-run China Daily reported.
US President Donald Trump has announced plans to clear the Strait of Hormuz to secure the vital oil corridor, citing risks to global energy supplies and criticising other nations' inaction.
"This trip will advance the Biden-Harris administration's rock-solid commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in Washington, DC on Wednesday.
The decision to go ahead with the mission is certain to anger China, which said last month it would "never allow any country" to violate its territorial waters and airspace around the islands, the Washington Post reported.
The US is intensifying pressure on China, piling on visa bans, sanctions and other restrictions that are battering the already unsettled ties between the world's two largest economies.
The aircraft carrier is China first domestically-built ship. Shandong is bigger than China's first aircraft carrier Liaoning and could house 36 fighter jets.
China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea. Beijing is also involved in a maritime dispute with Japan over the East China Sea.
The Australian High Commissioner had said Australia remains deeply concerned by Chinese actions in the South China Sea that are 'destabilising and could provoke escalation'. In a tweet, the Chinese envoy took objection to his remarks and said they were made 'disregarding facts'.
A naval formation consisting of aircraft carrier Liaoning, several destroyers and frigates was on training and testing missions last week, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday, quoting military officials.
The United States has asked for a collaborative diplomatic process on resolving the disputes related to the South China Sea, amid reports of the Chinese Navy confronting an Indian Navy vessel off the coast of Vietnam in late July.
Will rising tensions between US-Israel and Iran threaten crude oil supply through the Strait of Hormuz, putting India's fuel prices, imports, and economic stability at risk?
The clock on the ceasefire is running out. But everyone's already whispering about round two, possibly as soon as this weekend.
Bolton said that the arguments for China joining the World Trade Organisation was that it would become a more market-oriented rules-based society.
'We condemn recent illicit missile launches in the region that violate UN Security Council resolutions. We express serious concern over recent dangerous and aggressive actions in the maritime domain. We seek a region where no country dominates and no country is dominated one where all countries are free from coercion, and can exercise their agency to determine their futures,' the declaration said.
'Was the five-day pause ever meant to hold, or was it simply another instrument of signaling, of positioning, of buying time in a war where even the pauses are tactical?' asks Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
China has been an aggressor against India along the Himalayan border, a top American diplomat nominated by President Joe Biden as his next envoy to Beijing has told lawmakers, stating that the US must hold the Chinese government accountable for failing to play by the rules.
India and China have so far held 19 rounds of talks to resolve the boundary dispute.
Soon after he was sworn in by Vice President J D Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Penny Wong from Australia and Japan's Iwaya Takeshi for his first multilateral meeting as the top American diplomat.
