Japan proposes May 24 for Quad leaders’ meet

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: Ina signal of its “rock-solid commitment to a free and open IndoPacific”, US president Joe Biden will travel to South Korea and Japan from May 20, the White House said on Wednesday, announcing Biden’s plans to attend the second in-person Quad leaders-level summit in Tokyo along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of Japan and Australia.

Japan has proposed May 24 as the date for the summit, coinciding with Biden’s visit to Tokyo, though the date is yet to be locked down as it falls just days after Australia’s general election.

Biden will also hold bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Modi, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the visit, the White House said. Biden’s visit comes at a time when the US has been keen to send a message to allies and partners in the region that the war in Ukraine will not dilute its commitment to the Indo-Pacific. It also comes at a time when China has continued its aggressive outreach, including through military means, in the wider region.

People familiar with the matter said the Japanese side had initially proposed that the Quad

Summit should be held in April, before proposing May 24. While the US has agreed to the proposal, the Australian side has pointed out that the date is just days after the country’s general election on May 21.

The issue has been further complicated for the Australian side as an electoral victory for Prime Minister Scott Morrison is not a certainty. Polling earlier this month has shown Morrison’s government could lose the federal election.

Though Morrison consolidated his own position as Australia’s preferred leader, the polling showed Morrison’s Liberal-National Party coalition, which has a single seat majority in Parliament, could lose up to 10 seats to the Labour party.

It is now up to the three other members of Quad – Australia, Japan and the US – to agree on holding the summit on May 24, the people cited above said.

If the summit goes ahead as planned, this will be the first in-person meeting between Modi and Biden since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. They met during the Quad Summit held in the US last September and also participated in a virtual summit that was convened by Biden on March 3, shortly after the hostilities began in Ukraine.

At that virtual summit, Modi emphasised the need to return to a path of dialogue and diplomacy – a message that he has also conveyed in his phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – and also underlined that the Quad must remain focused on its “core objective” of promoting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.

Modi also called for concrete and practical cooperation within the Quad in areas such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, debt sustainability, supply chains, clean energy, and connectivity.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki has said Biden will, during his upcoming visit to South Korea and Japan, discuss opportunities to deepen vital security relationships, enhance economic ties and expand close cooperation to deliver practical results.

“This trip will advance the Biden-Harris administration’s rocksolid commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” she said.

Narendra Modi, Joe Biden