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President Joe Biden attended the first summit of leaders of the informal international alliance known as the “Quad” on Friday as his administration ramps up efforts to deal with China’s growing influence.
The group, which also included India, Japan and Australia, have come together virtually due to coronavirus restrictions.
Biden began the summit meeting by stressing the need for a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region.
“The United States is determined to work with you, our partners and all of our allies in the region to achieve stability,” he said.
In a joint statement after the meeting, the four leaders reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate on Covid-19, security challenges and climate change.
“Today, we are committed to responding to the economic and health impacts of COVID-19, to fighting climate change and to meeting common challenges, particularly in cyberspace, critical technologies, the fight against terrorism, investments in quality infrastructure and humanitarian aid and disaster relief. as well as the maritime domains ”, they declared.
The leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to denuclearize North Korea and agreed that their countries would establish a “vaccine expert working group” to help with the distribution of Covid-19, among others.
The four counties on Friday pledged to deliver up to 1 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to the Association of Southeast Asian and Indo-Pacific Nations by the end of 2022 using Indian manufacturing, US and Japanese financing and Australian logistics, domestic security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters during a White House briefing.
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Each country also tried to make it clear that this was not an anti-Beijing club.
“It was established not to counter a single threat or to focus on a single problem,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Thursday, but “to show what democracies can bring together , both for our own people and for the world at large. “
Despite these protests, the alliance is widely seen as an effort to combat Beijing’s growing military and economic might.
“This is a group of countries all concerned about China and all trying to keep the line for an open and democratic non-Chinese path,” Chinese author and analyst Bill Hayton told NBC News.
However, he added, the “Quad” is not a formal alliance like NATO and therefore has no strict obligation to defend each other.
Representatives of the four members of the< Dialogue quadrilatéral sur la sécurité >> met sporadically after its official creation in 2007.
But the group was revived by former President Donald Trump, whose meetings Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended as Washington sought to reinvigorate the alliance amid mounting tensions with Beijing.
Relations between the world’s two largest economies have deteriorated with clashes over trade, Covid-19, autonomy in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang.
In a sign that the Biden administration will continue to take a tough stand, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called China-America “the greatest geopolitical test of the 21st century.”
However, it was not just the United States that clashed with China.
India, Australia and Japan have all faced their own security challenges, heightening their interest in the four-nation alliance.
Japan has long-standing grievances over disputed islands and maritime claims, as Indian and Chinese troops engaged in deadly border clashes in disputed territory in the Himalayas last year.
Australia faced trade pressures from Beijing and Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday the “Quad” meeting was “a historic moment” and an opportunity to “create a new anchor for peace and stability in the United States. Indo-Pacific “.
The group’s revitalization also gained momentum last year after India invited Australia to join naval exercises with it, the United States and Japan.
For the group to offer an effective counterbalance to an increasingly assertive Beijing, Chinese analyst Hayton said, the Biden administration should try to offer more than just a security weight. Instead, it should seek to match the “full-spectrum commitment” that China is offering to countries in the region, such as aid and vaccines, which were all “totally lacking under the Trump era,” a- he added.
To that end, leaders are expected to announce a plan to boost India’s coronavirus vaccine manufacturing capacity, which comes as China continues to pursue its own policy of so-called vaccine diplomacy around the world.
“The idea that you can somehow contain China is just ludicrous, but I think it’s a way of trying to make sure that China doesn’t totally set the agenda. “, added Hayton.
Not surprisingly, Beijing is not a fan of the alliance.
Chinese officials did not comment directly on Friday’s meeting but previously denounced the group and cautioned against “exclusive cliques.”
“For Beijing, this is all bad news,” said Michael Shoebridge, director of defense, strategy and national security at the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy, a think tank.
“The Quad’s agenda … is exactly the kind of multilateral cooperation Beijing fears and struggles to orchestrate.”
The virtual summit comes amid a wave of American diplomacy in Asia.
Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will visit Japan and South Korea next week in a bid to solidify key alliances. And Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will travel to the United States to meet with Biden in April.
Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will also meet with senior Chinese officials next week in Alaska, the first high-level face-to-face contact between the two countries since Biden took office.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters on Thursday that Beijing hopes Washington will return relations to a “healthy and stable” path.
He said China is calling on the United States to “reject the Cold War and zero-sum gambling mentality, respect China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, and stop interfering with it. China’s internal affairs “.
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