Biden headed to Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday before the Quad Leaders Summit, where the leaders are expected to speak about conflict between Beijing and its neighbours in the South China Sea who have repeatedly clashed over disputed territory, US officials told Reuters.
On the agenda: stepped-up security co-operation in the Indian Ocean and progress to track illegal fishing fleets operating in the waters of the Indo-Pacific, most of which were Chinese.
Their joint statement was expected to include stronger language than during previous meetings about the South China Sea and about North Korea's threats, officials said.
Biden is set to hand over the presidency after a November 5 election that will deliver the White House to his vice-president, Kamala Harris, or Republican Donald Trump, who has vowed a confrontational approach with China and voiced scepticism about traditional US alliances.
Whether the Quad can survive Biden's presidency and keep tensions at bay is an open question.
President Joe Biden is hosting prime ministers Anthony Albanese, Fumio Kishida and Narendra Modi. (AP PHOTO)
As well as the handover at the White House, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will step down this September and Australia is set for elections by 2025.
Biden welcomed Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to his personal home on Friday evening, the first in a series of one-on-one meetings closed to media.
"You'll see a number of different signs throughout this meeting and the deliverables that the Quad is a bipartisan institution that is here to stay," a senior US official said.
The Quad is also expected to discuss health security, cancer treatment, technology and infrastructure measures.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, including territory inside exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
It also claims territories in the East China Sea contested by Japan and Taiwan.
China also views self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory.
Biden has vowed to compete with China without letting their differences veer into conflict, and he is set to speak again soon with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
But his desire to focus on the relationship with China has been sidetracked by conflict in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine.
Xi objects to the Quad grouping, seeing it as an effort to encircle Beijing and ramp up conflict.
"It's no secret that this is a partnership that, although it is not against China, seeks to offer alternatives to China," the senior Biden administration official said.
"A new Quad maritime security initiative would send a very strong signal to China, that its maritime bullying is unacceptable, and that it would be met with coordinated action by this coalition of like-minded nations," said Lisa Curtis, an Asia policy expert at the Center for a New American Security and former US administration official.
Such a move, which could involve the Coast Guard, would demonstrate there was a security element to the Quad, despite Indian sensitivities on the need for the grouping to avoid the defence domain, Curtis said.
"China's recent maritime aggression, could be changing the equation for India, and could be prompting India to become a bit more open to the idea of Quad security co-operation," she said.
Trump has said he plans to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week.
India plans to host the next Quad meeting, an early expected stop for whoever wins the United States election in November.
