NEW DELHI: India is hosting the Quad Foreign Ministers meeting today in New Delhi. Australia's and Japan's foreign ministers as well as the US secretary of state will attend the meeting, which will be presided over by external affairs minister Dr. S. Jaishankar. See all the real-time updates

On Friday, the senior diplomats of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States criticised China harshly but subtly while adamantly stating that their Indo-Pacific-focused grouping is not intended to challenge Beijing.

The four met in New Delhi and seldom addressed China while insisting that the so-called Quad group is intended to further their own national interests and that of others through improved non-military cooperation.

The importance of democracy, the rule of law, maritime security, and the peaceful resolution of disputes were repeatedly mentioned in both the statement and the public comments, which Beijing views with distrust when they come from Quad members.

The ministers said in a statement that they "strongly support the principles of freedom, rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful dispute resolution without resort to threat or use of force, and freedom of navigation and overflight, and oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo." All of these principles are crucial to the peace, stability, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

Without specifically mentioning Russia, the foreign ministers of the Quad agreed that the use or threat of nuclear weapons is "inadmissible" and urged for a durable peace un Ukraine.

At a meeting with Australia's Penny Wong, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Foreign Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, the topic came up.

The foreign ministers stated in a joint statement that they emphasised the necessity of an all-encompassing, just, and long-lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law.

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