The leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States expanded their joint security measures in Asia's trade-rich waters as outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden hosted his counterparts from the Quad group, which was created over shared concerns about China.
Biden, who met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese near his hometown of Delaware on Saturday, stressed the importance of maintaining the Quad countries, which he sees as a towering foreign policy achievement. He will leave office after the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5.
The leaders announced joint coast guard operations for next 12 months that may involve Australian, Japanese and Indian personnel deployed on a U.S. Coast Guard ship. The countries plan to extend military logistics cooperation, officials said. They didn’t comment on where the coast guard activities would happen.
The leaders also planned to expand the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Awareness, launched two years ago.
While the White House said the Quad summit was not directed at every other country and Beijing should not have any problem with the initiative, Biden began the summit's group session with a briefing on China. In a joint statement that didn’t mention the Chinese government by name, the leaders condemned “coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea.”
Analysts said the brand new maritime security initiatives were a signal to Beijing and represented an extra shift in the main target of the Quad's activities towards security issues, reflecting growing concerns about China's intentions.
Chinese President Xi Jinping rejects the merger of the Quad states, arguing that it’s an try and encircle Beijing and escalate the conflict.
Biden described Beijing as a state that’s changing its tactics but not its strategy and continues to check the United States within the South and East China Seas and the Taiwan Strait.
“We believe Xi Jinping wants to focus on economic challenges at home and minimize turbulence in diplomatic relations with China. And I think he is trying to create diplomatic space to aggressively pursue China's interests,” Biden said in remarks broadcast on an official event feed.
Beijing claims almost all the South China Sea, including areas claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. It also claims areas within the East China Sea claimed by Japan and Taiwan. China also considers democratically governed Taiwan to be its own territory.
The joint statement by the 2 leaders contained harsh words about North Korea, condemning its missile launches and “malicious cyber activities.” A US official said the leaders were concerned about Russian military aid to North Korea.
The group is intensifying its work to deliver critical and security technologies, including a brand new open radio access network, to the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia – regions where there is powerful competition from China.
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Lisa Curtis, an Asia policy expert on the Center for a New American Security and a former government official, said India, which is just not a part of any military alliance, was concerned concerning the perception that the Quad could militarize the Indo-Pacific.
“But I think China's recent maritime aggression could change the situation for India and make India a little more open to the idea of Quad security cooperation,” she said.
Analysts and politicians say Biden's invitation to host the Quad is an element of his efforts to institutionalise the body before he leaves office and that of Kishida, who’s stepping down after a leadership contest next week, and before elections in Australia next 12 months.
When asked concerning the group's endurance, Biden grabbed Modi by the shoulder and said the group would stay.
Albanese called the Quad coast guard plan “very important” since the “four countries will potentially have personnel on a single vessel, improving interoperability and cooperation,” in accordance with the transcript of a press conference he held in Philadelphia.
Before the summit, Albanese met with Biden at his home and discussed bilateral cooperation between the 2 close allies within the areas of defense and security, including within the Indo-Pacific.
The Quad met on the Secretary of State level under the previous administration of Donald Trump, who’s running against Vice President Kamala Harris in November, and enjoyed bipartisan support, reflected within the formation of a Quad caucus in Congress ahead of the summit. Biden elevated the Quad to the leadership level in 2021.
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