Just days before the heads of government of the Quad are expected to meet virtually, Japan’s Prime Minister Japan Yoshihide Suga had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both leaders shared the view that cooperation towards realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific was increasingly important. To this end, they agreed to advance bilateral cooperation, and also with their Quad partners, the U.S. and Australia.
According to the Japanese foreign ministry, Prime Minister Suga expressed serious concern about China’s ‘unilateral’ attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China Sea, China’s Coast Guard Law and the situation in Hong Kong and the Xinjiang. In a tweet, Modi recorded his appreciation of the conversation, noting that they discussed contemporary global challenges.
