US.

President Joe Biden met virtually with the quad leaders of Australia, India and Japan on Friday, launching a plan to deliver one billion covid 19 vaccines across Asia by the end of next year.

Covid 19 The climate crisis and regional security topped Friday's quad summit agenda in what's being seen as a meeting meant to counter China's growing influence and vaccination diplomacy in the Indo Pacific.

In his remarks on Friday, Biden vowed to strengthen US ties with its Asian allies.

Free and open Endo Pacific is essential to each of our futures are countries.

The United States is committed to working with you, our partners and all our allies in the region to achieve stability, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday.

The summit leaders also called for freedom of navigation in the disputed South China Sea and an end to quote violent repression in Myanmar.

Australian leader Scott Morrison hailed Friday summit as a new dawn in the Indo Pacific, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the quad an important pillar of stability in the region and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Suda said the group would make visible contributions to regional peace, stability and prosperity.

The Quad summit comes ahead of a high level U.

S China meeting next week in person in Alaska, the first between the world's two largest economies under the Biden administration.