India throws weight behind Quad group
WASHINGTON: The Quad grouping fills a “very important gap” that has emerged in contemporary times and New Delhi has clarity on its membership in it, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said, re-emphasising India’s support to a rulesbased order in the Indo-pacific amid China’s actions in the region.
India, the US, Japan and Australia constitute the Quadrilateral security dialogue or Quad. China has been wary of the Quad that was revived in late 2017. Beijing’s suspicions have increased since the four countries upgraded the forum to the ministerial level in 2019.
“Quad today fills a very important gap that has emerged in contemporary times, where there are global or regional requirements, which cannot be filled by a single country. It cannot even be filled by one bilateral relationship, and which is not being addressed at the multilateral level,” Jaishankar said after concluding key meetings in Washington on Friday.
Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of a two-day engagement with the Biden administration in back-to-back meetings, the external affairs minister also noted that he underscored India’s desire to ramp up production of Covid-19 vaccines at many of his meetings, his top objective for the visit, as the US held an “absolutely indispensable” position in the supply chain.
Jaishankar is the first Indian cabinet minister to visit the US since Joe Biden became the president on January 20.
His other objectives for the visit were to convey India’s appreciation for “very strong