Quad meet reiterates ‘common vision’
WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of continuing concerns over China’s actions across the region, the first ministerial meeting of the Quad since the Biden administration assumed office reiterated the group’s commitment to a rules-based world order underpinned by respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken met his Quad counterparts, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, Australia’s Marise Payne and Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi virtually. They agreed that changes underway around the world made a “strong case for their countries working closely together”, the external affairs ministry said in a statement in New Delhi.
The Biden administration reiterated US commitment to an annual meeting of the foreign ministers of the Quad countries — with India, Japan and Australia — and its central
cause of ensuring a “free and open Indo-pacific region” and India highlighted “practical cooperation in different domains to give our agenda a concrete shape”.
Blinken’s first Quad engagement took place amid talk of the first summit-level meeting of the informal grouping that is said to be considering steps towards formalizing its engagements. At least one annual meeting of the foreign ministers, which was announced in 2020, is a step in that direction.
The four ministers discussed “cooperation on Covid-19 response and recovery and climate change and committed to working together to address these global challenges,” state department spokesperson Ned Price said in a readout.
They also discussed “countering disinformation, counterterrorism, maritime security, the urgent need to restore the democratically elected government” in Myanmar.
This was the third such meeting since the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad was upgraded to the ministerial level in September 2019. It was held less than five months after the last meeting in Tokyo in October, signalling the new US administration’s commitment to the Quad as a key formation in the Indo-pacific.
There was speculation in some quarters on whether India would continue to work closely with the Quad following progress in its efforts to end the standoff with China in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). India and China recently agreed on disengagement on the northern and southern banks of the Pangong Lake, one of the friction points on the LAC.
While the former Trump administration had talked about formalising and expanding the Quad, questions had been raised on whether the Biden administration would adopt a more cautious approach to the group as a counter-balance to China.
The external affairs ministry’s statement said: “The ministers emphasised their commitment to upholding a rulesbased international order, underpinned by respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, rule of law, transparency, freedom of navigation in the international seas and peaceful resolution of disputes.” The four countries highlighted their “shared attributes as political democracies, market economies and pluralistic societies” and said it is important for the world community to ensure that the “direction of changes remains positive and beneficial to all”, the statement added.
The Quad members reiterated their “common vision for a free, open and inclusive Indopacific region, with clear support for Asean cohesion and centrality” and noted that the Indo-pacific concept had “gathered growing international support, including in Europe”, the statement said.
In a strongly-worded statement, Japan’s foreign ministry said the ministers “shared the recognition that the existing international order has been under challenge in various fields including unilateral attempts to change the status quo”, and the four countries are playing an “increasingly important role under such situations”.
The Indian statement and the US readout reflected the difference in the approach of the two sides to the February 1 military coup in Myanmar against the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The US readout said the ministers discussed the “urgent need to restore the democratically elected government” in Myanmar. The Indian statement adopted a more cautious approach, saying the Indian side had reiterated the “upholding of rule of law and the democratic transition”.