Manila: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump are likely to have a bilateral meeting on Monday on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit here. Modi will arrive here tomorrow to attend the 15th ASEAN- India summit and 12th East Asia summit on November 14. Trump is also scheduled to arrive here tomorrow as part of his five-nation Asia tour of Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Official sources said the meeting between Modi and Trump is likely to take place on Monday. 

It will be the first meeting between the two leaders following a proposal to have a quadrilateral alliance among India, the US, Japan, and Australia. Japan last month had indicated that it would propose a top-level dialogue with the US, India and Australia. Sources said officials of the four countries may meet on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit here. Reacting to the Japanese move, India had said that it was open to working with like-minded countries on issues that advance its interests. 

The US had said it was looking at a "working-level" quadrilateral meeting in the near term with India, Japan and Australia. Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono last month had said that Tokyo favours a dialogue between Japan, the US, India and Australia to further boost strategic partnership among the four countries. 

The move to set up the quadrilateral comes in the backdrop of growing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea. The US has been favouring a larger role for India in the strategically key Indo-Pacific region. The use of the term "Indo-Pacific" by Trump has led to speculation that it may have something to do with Washington preparing the ground for a revival of the so-called Quadrilateral strategic alliance between the US, Japan, Australia and India to counter China's rise.