Beijing cautioned on Monday against an alliance between the United States and three of its regional allies after officials from the four countries met for the first time in Manila, raising prospects for a bloc to counter China’s strategic expansion. With China in mind, officials from India, Australia, the US and Japan on Sunday discussed issues relating to cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, seen as a first move to set up a quadrilateral grouping to pursue common interests in the strategically key area. The concept of an ‘Indo-Pacific’ alliance is not a policy designed in Washington. Indeed, unlike Obama’s “pivot” to Asia, Trump now appears to be following the guidance of America’s Asian partners rather than setting the agenda himself, writes David Hutt for Asia Times.