The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States, Australia and India are expected to adopt a stronger stance on China's increasing military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region at their meeting Monday, Ednews reports citing Kyodo.

The four-way grouping, known as the Quad, held talks in Tokyo amid criticism of Beijing for militarizing the South China Sea by the construction of artificial islands equipped with military infrastructure.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will likely issue a joint statement after the talks, according to a Japanese government official.

"It has become more important for the four nations, sharing values of freedom and democracy, to work together in realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific based on the rule of law," Kamikawa said at the outset of the meeting, which was open to the media.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, where Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have overlapping claims. Chinese coast guard ships have recently engaged in aggressive activities against Philippine vessels near disputed shoals.

In the East China Sea, Chinese ships have repeatedly entered Japanese territorial waters around the uninhabited Senkaku Islands that are controlled by Tokyo and claimed by Beijing.

In a joint readout released following their last meeting in September in New York, the Quad foreign ministers called for "challenges to the global maritime rules-based order, including with respect to maritime claims, and in the South and East China Seas" to be addressed, without naming China.

Whether the ministers will employ "tougher wording" against China is a focal point, a diplomatic source said.

Arrangements have been made for the envisioned statement to stipulate that the Quad members will continue to express opposition to the militarization of the South China Sea, as well as coercive and threatening actions in the waters, according to sources familiar with the matter.

As for Russia's war in Ukraine since February 2022, the four countries have aired "deep concern" and expressed grief for the "terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences."

But the quadrilateral group failed to accuse Moscow over the ongoing invasion, with India maintaining its traditional friendly relations with Russia. The two nations are members of the BRICS forum together with China, Brazil, South Africa and others.