U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in Japan for Major Ministers Meeting

U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo began meetings with counterparts from three other democratic countries in Tokyo, in a bid to keep up the pressure on China amid the coronavirus crisis rocking Washington.

The so-called Quad -- also including Australia, India and Japan -- is slated to hold its second ministerial-level meeting later Tuesday, an event expected to help firm up New Delhi’s participation in the group. The first international gathering of ministers in Japan in almost a year demonstrates solidarity at a time when China is feuding with at least three of its members: Australia, U.S. and India.

For the host, newly installed Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, the meeting signals a willingness to continue some of his predecessor Shinzo Abe’s more hawkish security projects. China has expressed concerns that the “Quadrilateral Initiative,” which Abe first helped promote more than a decade ago, is an attempt to form “exclusive cliques” and stoke a “new Cold War.”

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