U.S. to hold high-level talks with Australia, Japan and India

Wow, this is the first time I’ve heard of this “quad” security partnership. I mean, I knew that all these countries were US allies, I just never heard that phrase before. Has anyone else? Or is this really just a new term that they made up recently?

Yep. It's fairly new but the Quad members have been conducting annual naval exercises. There was some initial reluctance to include the Japanese but with China's increasing threats to the Senkakus and Okinawa and Japan's considerable naval prowess their inclusion was natural.

The "Quad" name and concept has been around for years. Not heavily published but still in the public domain.

It was born, then off for a while and now on again.

Wow, this is the first time I’ve heard of this “quad” security partnership. I mean, I knew that all these countries were US allies, I just never heard that phrase before. Has anyone else? Or is this really just a new term that they made up recently?

Wow, this is the first time I’ve heard of this “quad” security partnership

No, I'd never heard it either. If the US thinks that Australia is just going to roll over and play the obedient little puppy when it comes to Trump's war on China, they've got another think coming. PM Scott Morrison and Defence Minister Marise Payne have been quite clear in recent public speeches that they're going to pursue an independent, less full-on aggressive approach to China than the Trump administration would like.

That's if the Oz government sticks to it, of course, and doesn't have another of its frequent attacks of spinelessness when it comes to the US of A.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/independence-actually-marise-payne-s-unmistakable-message-to-the-us-20200729-p55gfi.html

Should include Taiwan as well. That will rile up the commies for sure.