Biden to Host Leaders of Australia, India, Japan at White House Next Week
Voice of America
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden will host a first in-person summit of leaders of the "Quad" countries — Australia, India, Japan and the United States — which have been seeking to enhance cooperation to push back against China's growing assertiveness.
The summit will be held at the White House in Washington on September 24, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. The U.S. visits of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will coincide with the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which Biden will address on September 21. A virtual meeting of the Quad leaders was held in March, and they pledged to work closely on COVID-19 vaccines and climate change, and to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of challenges from Beijing. "Hosting the leaders of the Quad demonstrates the Biden-Harris administration's priority of engaging in the Indo-Pacific, including through new multilateral configurations to meet the challenges of the 21st century," Psaki said.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.