US officials join Quad for senior officials' meet, discuss shared vision of free and open Indo-pacific

Washington [US], March 31 : United States officials on Wednesday (local time) joined Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) for a Senior Officials' Meeting to discuss their shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Daniel J. Kritenbrink, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs joined the Quad Senior Officials' Meeting.
"Today, @USAsiaPacific Assistant Secretary Kritenbrink and @State_SCA Assistant Secretary Lu joined their Quad Senior Official counterparts from Australia, India, Japan to discuss our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific," US Department of State tweeted," US Department of State tweeted.
The Quad, formally known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, comprises the U.S., India and Australia. The four nations share values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law.
This senior officials' meeting comes after reports of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida approached U.S. President Joe Biden about visiting Japan for a Quad summit.
Earlier this month, Quad Senior Cyber Group met in Sydney and decided to engage on cyber security challenges. Australia, India, Japan, and the United States all recognize the importance of cybersecurity in an increasingly digital world plagued by sophisticated cyber threats, according to Emily Horne, the US National Security Council's spokesperson.
All four Quad leaders Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden took part in a virtual meeting earlier, the first since the leaders of the four Quad countries held a summit in September last year in Washington. The leaders discussed the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
Prime Minister Modi underlined that the Quad must remain focused on its core objective of promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
India has taken a cautious position about fully condemning Russia, with which it has close historic military ties.
Australia said it understands New Delhi's position on the ongoing Ukraine crisis, a comment from Harsh Vardhan Shringla that came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, concluded a virtual summit.
Meanwhile, the US termed India as an essential partner for its shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific and highlighted that regardless of India-Russia historical ties, the US is a "partner of choice for India now."