Foreign ministers of Quad - Australia, India, Japan and the United States - on Monday said they were seriously concerned about intimidating and coercive manoeuvres in the South China Sea and affirmed to bolster maritime security in the region. India also said it was in talks to host the summit this year.

"India is the host for this year's Quad and we are still discussing when to do the summit... Regarding the agenda, we came up with some new ideas today, but I can generally tell you that the idea...is disaster resilience, digital, critical emerging technologies, physical connectivity, how to build capacities across the Indo-Pacific," external affairs minister S Jaishankar said after the meeting.

In his opening remarks at the meeting, he said: "It is only Quad nations' collaboration that can ensure that Indo-Pacific remains free, open, stable and secure as the world grapples with the key question of upholding a rules-based order... It is therefore essential that our political understanding strengthens, our economic partnerships grow, technology collaborations expand and our people-to-people comfort intensifies. Our meeting should send a clear message that Quad is here to stay, here to do and here to grow."

A joint statement after the meeting of foreign ministers - Jaishankar, Australia's Penny Wong, Japan's Yoko Kamikawa and Antony Blinken from the US - said: "We are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and reiterate our strong opposition to any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion. We continue to express our serious concern about the militarisation of disputed features, and coercive and intimidating manoeuvres in the South China Sea."

"This time, the most attractive topic was the South China Sea, where the Quad supported the Philippines. All Quad states are supporting the Philippines," Saturo Nagao, a Japan-based security expert, told ET. "The US has deployed intermediate missiles to the Philippines... Australia is also deploying forces to the Philippines. Japan's fighter jets will be deployed in the Philippines on rotation basis. India provided the strongest weapon the Philippines possesses - Brahmos supersonic missile. For the Philippines, the missile is a game changer."

(With Agency Inputs)