Indo-Pacific leaders meet, discuss concerns about China
WASHINGTON >> Meeting with the leaders of India, Australia and Japan, President Joe Biden declared Friday that the U.S. and other members of the Indo-Pacific alliance known as “the Quad” are showing they “know how to get things done” in an increasingly complicated corner of the globe.
Biden and his fellow leaders — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga — all are grappling with a rising China that Biden has accused of coercive economic practices and unsettling military maneuvering.
They made no direct mention of China as they opened the group’s first in-person meeting, but the Pacific power was sure to be a major focus as they headed into private talks.
On broader issues, Biden has repeatedly made a case that the U.S. and likeminded allies need to deliver results on the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and other fundamental matters with the world in what he’s deemed a race between democracies and autocracies. Morrison and the others seemed to pick up that message at Friday’s summit.
“We are liberal democracies, believe in a world order that favors freedom,” Morrison said. “And we believe in a free and open Indo-Pacific because we know that’s what delivers a strong, stable and prosperous region.
Before the gathering on Friday afternoon, Biden sat down with Modi in the Oval Office. He was also to have a one-on-one with Suga, who is soon to step down from his post.
With Modi by his side, Biden played up ties to India — referencing Vice President Kamala Harris’ Indian heritage and even his own family ties to the subcontinent.
The president also made clear he saw tightening relations with the world’s biggest democracy — one that shares a neighborhood with Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and China — as vital for both sides.
“I’ve long believed the U.S.-India relationship can help us solve an awful lot of global challenges,” Biden said.
Modi noted the importance of the Indian diaspora for the U.S. economy and said he wanted to find ways the two countries could work together to strengthen their respective economies.
At the afternoon summit, the Quad leaders were expected to announce a coronavirus vaccine initiative and plans to bolster semiconductor supply chains. Biden announced the Quad had created a program to bring graduate students in science and technology to U.S. universities. After the summit, Morrison and Suga met with Harris for further talks; Modi met separately with the vice president on Thursday.
The Quad is an informal alliance formed during the response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed some 230,000 people. Biden has sought to reinvigorate the alliance, putting a spotlight on a chief foreign policy goal: greater attention to the Pacific and a rising China. The alliance met earlier this year, virtually, and announced plans to boost vaccination manufacturing in India. The Japanese and Indian governments welcomed a recent announcement that the U.S., as part of a new alliance with Britain and Australia, would equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. That will allow Australia to conduct longer patrols and give it an edge on the Chinese navy. But the announcement infuriated France, which accused the Biden administration of stabbing it in the back by squelching its own $66 billion deal to provide diesel-powered submarines.Tensions between Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron eased after the two leaders spoke Wednesday and agreed to take steps to coordinate more closely in the Indo-Pacific.