Quad leaders press for free Indo-Pacific, with wary eye on China

China has denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders of the United States, Japan, India and Australia vowed to pursue a free and open Indo-Pacific region "undaunted by coercion" at their first in-person summit, which presented a united front amid shared concerns about China.

The two-hour meeting at the White House of the Quad, as the grouping of four major democracies is called, will be watched closely in Beijing, which criticized the group as "doomed to fail."

"â