Tag: quad meeting

Quad Criticises Threat of Nuclear Weapon Use But Doesn’t Directly Condemn Ukraine War

While the US, Japan and Australia have been leading the diplomatic and economic campaign against Russia, India has publicly refused to castigate Moscow for its military invasion of Ukraine.  

New Delhi: The foreign ministers of the four-member Indo-Pacific alliance, known as the Quad, agreed on Friday, March 3, that the use or threat of use of Nuclear weapons is “inadmissible”, but again fell short of a joint condemnation of the Ukraine war.

There had earlier been uncertainty as to whether the Quad ministerial meeting would take place as Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasha Hayashi skipped the G20 meeting due to his parliamentary schedule. 

 

However, after taking a special leave, Hayashi flew into New Delhi early Friday morning and went into a breakfast meeting with US secretary of state Anthony Blinken, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong and Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar,

Released after the talks, the joint statement said, “We continued to discuss our responses to the conflict in Ukraine and the immense human suffering it is causing, and concurred that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible”.

Ukraine has been a key topic of the Quad meetings since the Leaders’ summit in May 2022, the first one since the Ukraine war. While the United States, Japan and Australia have been leading the diplomatic and economic campaign against Russia, India has publicly refused to castigate Moscow for the military invasion of Ukraine.  

Also read: India Is Wrong: Russia’s Aggression in Ukraine Has Global, Not Just European Ramifications

The differences between the members has meant that there has not been a standard agreement on condemning the Ukraine war in Quad joint statements or press releases over the last year. This time also, it was no different.

The only change was that the Quad foreign ministers criticised the threat or use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. This line was also included in paragraph four of the G20 foreign ministers’ chair summary, endorsed by 18 members besides Russia and China.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended participation in the new START treaty and threatened to resume nuclear tests.

Speaking at the panel of the four ministers at the Raisina dialogue on Friday, Blinken asserted that Russia was allowed to “do what it’s doing in Ukraine, then that’s a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they may be able to get away with it too”.

A day earlier, Blinken had a 10-minute meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on the sidelines of the G20 meeting, their first-ever face-to-face encounter since the Ukraine war.

Russia and China have traditionally objected to the Quad grouping, with Russian officials claiming it was formed as an “anti-china” club.

Calling for a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter”, the quad foreign ministers also said that “the rules-based international order must respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, transparency and peaceful resolution of disputes”.

China

Besides a mild rebuke of Russia, the Quad joint statement also took a swipe at China by referring to “unilateral” actions in the South and East China sea.

“We reiterate the importance of adherence to international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China Seas. We strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the area. We express serious concern at the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities,” said the joint statement.

At the Raisina panel dialogue, Japanese foreign minister Hayashi underlined that the Quad was not a military club, but for “practical cooperation”. He stated that the group did not “exclude” anyone, as long as they abided by international law.

“As long as China abides by international law and acts under international institutions, this is not a conflicting issue between China and Quad,” he said.

Hayashi had the most interesting analogy for the Quad members working together, while having their own interests and outreach with other countries. Describing the Quad as being like the Beatles, the Japanese foreign minister said that the mechanism was like a “soft group” with band members also doing their own thing on the side. “…even within the Beatles, Paul McCartney can release the album by solo”.

The Quad ministers also took potshots at China by stating they would “support meritorious and independent candidates for elections in the UN and in international forums to maintain the integrity and impartiality of the international system”.

Chinese officials increasingly helming various UN bodies and posts has been a frequent lament in western media and think-tanks. Along with increased funding, the Australian think tank Lowy Institute had analysed that China was “making a concerted effort to secure executive leadership posts within the UN international civil service, heading UN agencies located in the Senior Management Group and the Chief Executives Board”.

During the discussion at the conference, Jaishankar highlighted that India’s big gain from the Quad meeting was the announcement of a counter-terrorism working group and more robust language on UN Security Council reforms.

“We reiterate our unwavering support for the UN Charter, including its three pillars, and our steadfast commitment to strengthening the UN and international system through a comprehensive reform agenda, including through expansion in permanent and non-permanent seats of the UN Security Council. In this regard, we commit to active and constructive engagement in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) process on Security Council Reforms with an overall objective of making the UN Security Council more effective, representative, and credible,” it said.

In response to the Quad ministerial joint statement, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson reminded that Beijing has always opposed the grouping for being an “exclusionary blocs”.

“We believe that state-to-state cooperation needs to be consistent with the trend of peace and development, rather than be about putting up exclusionary blocs. We hope certain countries can do more things that contribute to security and mutual trust between regional countries and that help to maintain regional peace and stability,” said spokesperson Mao Ning on Friday.

As India Tries Not to Upset US or Russia, DefExpo Participants Express Anger at Sudden Deferral

One foreign exhibitor said since these events operate on a tight global timetable, planned years in advance, no deviations or ‘postponements’ were possible.

New Delhi: The Indian embassy in Cambodia – obviously unaware that DefExpo 2022 had been summarily postponed last week – exuberantly “invited” locals to the biennial land, naval and homeland security systems exhibition at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

In a tweet at around 10 am, local time, on Wednesday, India’s mission in Phnom Penh called upon ‘interested participants from Cambodia’ to register themselves through the official website of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL) in Mumbai in order to attend the four-day Expo – which had been called off on March 4.

However, an hour later the tweet was deleted, after netizens informed the embassy of the Expo’s deferral by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) six days before its March 10 inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a move that has globally dented India’s credibility as a reliable defence equipment customer and vendor.

A screenshot of the deleted tweet. Photo: By arrangement

Obviously, the Indian embassy in Cambodia had missed the MoD’s brusque announcement on the Press Information Bureau (PIB)’s website, stating that the DexExpo from March 10-14 stood postponed ‘due to logistic problems being experienced by participants’. New dates for the exhibition, the PIB added, would be communicated in ‘due course’, as participants privately fulminated over the MoD’s arbitrariness in adjourning the Expo at a juncture when India’s military desperately needed to diversify its predominantly Russian arsenal.

No explanations were forthcoming for some 1,028 harried exhibitors, which included 121 materiel makers from 70 countries, alongside over 900 local companies, all of whom had not only had paid big money to participate in the Expo but also ferried elaborate displays, and in some cases even platforms, to the Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre (MMCEC) in Gandhinagar.

But the postponement was not the only body blow to exhibitors.

It was followed a day later by a coldblooded eviction notice to them all by the Defence Exhibition Organisation (DEO), responsible for managing the show. In essence, they were told to clear out their stalls within 24 hours. The brusque notification called on all exhibitors to take their ‘exhibits and belongings from all venues by March 6 forenoon positively’ given the uncertain ‘availability of security arrangements for limited periods at the venues’.

“This notice only added insult to injury,” said an overseas participant. He said requests for extending the deadline to remove massive display mock-ups and even heavier platforms, were straightaway declined by DEO personnel, who had even threatened to levy demurrage on participants if their order was infringed.

In at least one instance, these officials are believed to have told an exhibitor to locally hire a warehouse to store his display equipment prior to shipping it out. But their immediate message to this vendor was firm: he needed to get everything out of the MMCEC premises within the constricted timeframe.

Officials from DOE were unavailable for comment, while personnel from Delhi-based R E Rogers, tasked with providing logistics and freight-forwarding and transportation services to Expo exhibitors, declined to speak on the matter.

Many participants categorically stated that they had not faced any ‘logistic problems’ at the Expo, and were in the final stages of erecting their stalls in readiness for the show, when they were ‘sideswiped’ with the ‘bombshell’ postponement announcement. Some agitated foreign participants – that included Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman from the US, Thales from France and Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, also from Israel, amongst others – expressed anger, frustration and weariness in equal measure with the MoD over the Expo’s adjournment.

“All our efforts and money stand wasted,” said one foreign exhibitor. The MoD, he railed, had ‘misbehaved’ with the participants by taking them entirely for granted and calling off the Expo at the last minute. One other equally incensed participant declared that the Expo deferment would ‘severely dent’ India’s image in the global arms bazaar, as the MoD had failed to realise that all such exhibitions operated on a tight global timetable and were planned years in advance. No deviations or ‘postponements’ were possible, he declared, declining like the previous exhibitor to be named, as both were fearful of a ‘vindictive’ riposte from the MoD.

Foreign delegations comprising around 50 defence ministers and service chiefs too had announced their intent to participate in the show and in numerous seminars and discussions scheduled over four days. Thousands of participants had also booked rooms in around 20 five-star hotels in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, some for over Rs 50,000 per night, registering a sixfold hike over the normal tariff in the twin cities. One exhibitor even told The Wire that his company had lost its advance payment of Rs 12 lakh for the five rooms he had booked in Ahmedabad, as this amount had been deemed nonrefundable.

Local vendors question MoD’s seriousness

Several local vendors from Ashok Leyland, Tata Advanced Systems Limited, Mahendra Defence Systems, Adani Defence and other defence public sector undertakings, on the other hand, accepted the Expo postponement, albeit despairingly. Though their reactions were muted, it was evident that many questioned the MoD’s “seriousness” over its Atma Nirbharta initiative, aimed at boosting indigenous materiel production to reduce dependency on defence equipment imports.

“It (deferment) is definitely a setback, as Indian companies were unable to interact with foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to catch up with the latest technologies available,” said one senior official from a leading local company. It was an expensive waste, he admitted.

Senior industry and defence officials claimed that the Expo’s deferment had followed ‘pressure’ on New Delhi during the March 3 Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian, Japanese and US counterparts. They claimed that in this virtual four-member conclave, the US had reportedly called upon India not to facilitate the display of Russian armaments at its Expo a week hence.

To further reinforce its sanctions on Russia’s entire defence industry, amongst numerous other sectors, for invading Ukraine, the US is also believed to have indicated in the Quad interaction its intent to withdraw from DefExpo, if India permitted Russian military enterprises to participate. Several participating European countries too were separately believed to have echoed similar intent, all of which eventually coalesced, leading to the shows’ stoppage.

Furthermore, some Russian participants claimed to be facing financial problems with their credit cards and other international payment platforms due to the US-led sanctions on their country’s financial institutions. Besides, travelling to India from Moscow for many Russian armament company executives too was jeopardised as Aeroflot, their country’s flagship airline, had suspended most of its international flights – including to India – after sanctions kicked in.

Russian defence companies were the second largest foreign exhibitors at DefExpo after the US and included Almaz-Antey Air and Space Defence Corporation, Rosoboronexport JSC, United Engine Corporation, United Shipbuilding Corporation and High Precision Weapons JSC, amongst others; all stand sanctioned by the US, the European Union and other countries around the world like Australia and Japan.

Surprisingly, even defence secretary Ajay Kumar was unaware of the Expo’s postponement. And, much like the Indian embassy in Cambodia, he also tweeted – on the morning that the ‘postponement’ was announced – that ‘Great opportunities (existed) for VCs (venture capitalists at Defexpo) to invest in best technological brains of India. Clearly, he was unaware that the Prime Minister’s Office had decided to call it off following the Quad summit the day before.

A scene from DefExpo 2020 in Lucknow. Photo: Reuters/File

Campaign to refund money

In the meantime, the Expo’s postponement has triggered a campaign for the MoD to refund the exhibitors’ money. “The refunds are being delayed and we are told that around 30% will be deducted for no fault of the companies who have spent so much to get (their) equipment on site,” tweeted Sanjiv Kumar on Wednesday. Please do not allow demeaning of India’s reputation, he pleaded.

Industry officials confirmed that postponing the Expo provided the MoD a ‘loophole’ to not refund exhibitors for their large advances to ensure Expo participation. For, in the event of the Expo having been officially cancelled, exhibitors would be eligible to be reimbursed just 75% of their overall entry fee, as DEO rules stipulate that 25% of the total payment would remain with it for ‘compensation of costs’. Senior officials indicated that presently the MoD had no intention of making any refunds and was simply waiting for the ruckus over the postponement to subside.

Since its initiation in 1996, India’s DexExpo – of which the postponed one was the 12th edition – was held every two years in Delhi till 2014, after which it became peripatetic, taking place in the incumbent defence minister’s home state. Much to the chagrin of participants and even India’s armed forces personnel, it took place in Goa in 2014 under defence minister Manohar Parrikar, in Chennai in 2016 under his successor Nirmala Sitharaman, and thereafter in Lucknow when Rajnath Singh ascended to that post. Industry officials said Gujarat was the designated venue this year as it was not only the PM’s home state but also the state where elections are scheduled for later in the year.

In conclusion, many exhibitors were primarily incensed over the ‘unimaginative and laughable’ alibi of logistic problems cited by the MoD for the Expo’s postponement. “It would have been far more graceful, acceptable and realistic if the Ukraine conflict had been proffered as the reason for this deferment,” said an executive from a European firm. The feeble explanation given, he added, smacked of bureaucratic self-righteousness and infallibility, postures the armed forces can well do without.

‘Exclusive Cliques’: China Lashes Out at Upcoming Quad Meet

US President Joe Biden will host the first in-person Quad summit to be attended by PM Modi, PM Scott Morrison of Australia and Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga.

Beijing: China on Tuesday, September 14, hit out at the upcoming first-ever Quad summit to be hosted by US President Joe Biden, saying the formation of “exclusive cliques” targeting other countries runs counter to the trend of the times and is “doomed to fail”.

President Biden would host the first in-person Quad summit on September 24 in Washington which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia and Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga.

Asked for his comment on the upcoming Quad summit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that cooperation between the countries should not target third parties.

“It is China’s consistent belief that any regional cooperation mechanism should follow the trend of peace and development, and help promote mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries rather than target a third party or undermine its interests,” Zhao said.

“Forming closed and exclusive ‘cliques’ targeting other countries runs counter to the trend of the times and deviates from the expectation of regional countries. It thus wins no support and is doomed to fail,” he said.

China is not only a major engine of economic growth in the Asia-Pacific, but also a staunch defender of regional peace and stability, he said.

Also read: Building Small Circles in Name of Multilateralism is Groupism: China on Quad

“China’s development is a force for world peace and a boon for regional prosperity and development. Relevant countries should discard the outdated zero-sum mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical perception, view China’s development correctly and respect people’s aspiration in the region and do more that is conducive to solidarity and cooperation of regional countries,” he said.

In November 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.

In March, President Biden hosted the first-ever summit of the Quad leaders in the virtual format that vowed to strive for an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, inclusive, anchored by democratic  values, and unconstrained by coercion, sending a subtle message to China.

The Quad summit will take place amidst China’s aggressive behaviour in the resource-rich South China Sea.

Beijing claims almost all of the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory. China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

What the Delay in US Help for India Says About the Effectiveness of the ‘Quad’

If pressure from media, think tanks and activists is what led the Biden administration to relent now, what happens in even more urgent scenarios?

Chandigarh: The labour pains Washington endured – before eventually delivering badly-needed medical supplies and related equipment to tackle India’s second calamitous coronavirus pandemic wave – has degraded the timely operational framework of the untested Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, in an emergency.

It’s perhaps uncharitable to carp at the US at present, considering its subsequent outpouring of assistance in dealing with India’s enduring and grossly mismanaged pandemic. But Washington’s extended hesitation for several weeks in assisting India in its grave adversity, despite grand assurances of support during the first Quad summit on March 12, is significant and could have discouraging ramifications for the much-touted alliance that also includes Australia and Japan.

In contrast, Russia, which the US is seeking to sanction for providing India military equipment, and smaller countries like Bahrain, Britain, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in addition to  European Union (EU) states like France, Germany, Ireland and Italy were, unbidden, expeditiously off the mark in proactively aiding India directly. Even India’s nuclear rivals Pakistan and China offered ambulances, vaccines and medical gear, which the Modi government, understandably, declined.

“Protracted delays by the US in stepping up and helping India immediately have seriously  compromised the Quad’s potential effectiveness and its much publicised sense of immediacy” said Brigadier Rahul Bhonsle (retired) of the New Delhi-based Security Risks consultancy group. Deferring instant assistance, not only to a fellow Quad member, but also to a major strategic partner and defence ally like India was a test case, and the US has seemingly failed it, he lamented.

Also read: First Quad Summit: One Billion Vaccine Doses For Asia, Cooperation on Approach to China

Other senior retired and serving Indian military planners echoed similar sentiments.

They said that eventually pressure from the influential Indian diaspora in the US, prominent think tanks and social media had ‘embarrassed’ Washington into belated pro-activity in responding to India’s virus predicament. Thereafter, Washington had ‘over compensated’ in supplying Delhi badly-needed and overly welcome life-saving materials.

“In retrospect the shibboleths of swift mutual co-operation, understanding and joint-ness expressed in the Quad summit in early March have little meaning or substance,” said a two-star Indian Navy (IN) officer. When it came to the crunch, there was no immediate vindication of these ambitious sentiments, till Washington was ‘compelled’ into action he added declining to be named.

On March 12, all four Quad leaders, including newly elected US President Joe Biden, alongside Prime Ministers Scott Morrison of Australia, Yoshihide Suga of Japan and Narendra Modi had, in a virtual summit committed, amongst other issues, to collaborate in fighting the  coronavirus pandemic in Asia, in an unstated bid to put China down.

Quad leaders (L-R): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihida. Photos: Reuters, Twitter

Ironically, the summit was eagerly supported by Biden, whose administration – paradoxically – emerged as the slowpoke in stepping up to the mark in providing India timely succour. “We are launching a new ambitious joint partnership that is going to boost vaccine manufacturing for the global benefit and will boost vaccination programmes in the Indo-Pacific region.” Biden had loftily stated; but his subsequent delayed actions appeared somewhat at variance with these sentiments.

Furthermore, the US and Japan, too, had agreed on funding to expand India’s established COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity, whilst Australia was to provide logistical support to firm up access and ‘last-mile’ vaccine delivery across south-east Asia and the Pacific region. And though these arrangements, no doubt endure, their application has somewhat dimmed over the past few weeks at a time when the virus continues to mercilessly engulf India and its countrywide inoculation programme has suffered a serious setback due to the shortage of vaccines.

And correspondingly, in an understandable manoeuvre at self-preservation, Australia recently announced a five-year jail term and a $50,000 fine, or both, for anyone, including its own citizens, returning from India. Japan, on the other hand, the fourth Quad member remains a relatively mute observer to India’s unfolding tragedy.

Meanwhile, official sources in Delhi told The Wire that a spate of stark situational news reports, acerbic tweets and bellicose social media posts censuring the US for its gratuitous indifference to India’s plight, were collectively responsible for its subsequent bountiful response. “Initially, the US exhibited little or no generosity or humaneness to India’s plight that it always demands of others” said a senior foreign diplomat in Delhi, declining to be identified. It was goaded into action thereafter by being called out over its unconcern, he said.

Embarrassingly for Washington, the US State Department spokesman also expressed no sympathy for Indian’s predicament on April 22 when questioned on its virus surge. During a routine press briefing, he provided a longwinded, albeit awkward explanation regarding Washington’s apathy that was centred principally around the ‘US First’  policy with regard to exporting virus vaccines to India. This only served to evoke disturbing memories of the previous Trump administration, further shaming the newly elected incumbents.

Writing in The Economic Times as recently as April 25, at a juncture when India’s daily caseload of new coronavirus infections topped 321,903, Washington-based columnist Seema Sirohi declared that all India had so far heard from the Biden administration were, “Words, sometimes vapid and sometimes callous, or a robotic recounting of past generosity, some of which actually came from Donald Trump.”

Sirohi compared the US’s apathy to India’s dire virus situation as ‘another USS Enterprise moment’ for Delhi. She was referring to the US aggressively dispatching its Seventh Fleet Task Force, led by this nuclear-powered carrier to the Bay of Bengal in December 1971, to intimidate India during its war with Washington’s ally, Pakistan, that led to the emergence of Bangladesh. “If sending the Seventh Fleet was an intervention to scare India, the lack of one to salve and save lives (during the pandemic) is more appalling,” the analyst told Sirohi.

Also read: How Nationalist IP-Hoarding Will Prolong the Pandemic

The link is unlikely ever to be revealed, but Sirohi’s dispatch alongside other equally damaging newspaper and television coverage, resulted soon after in Washington dispatching assorted medical gear to India. Over the past fortnight, this has included oxygen cylinders and concentrators, rapid virus diagnostic test kits, ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE), and associated critical apparatuses.

A scene at the Holy Family Hospital in New Delhi, India, May 1, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui

Alongside, the US has relented on lifting the export ban on essential raw materials required by the Serum Institute of India to manufacture the ‘Covishield’ or Oxford-AstraZenaca vaccine at its Pune facility. It has also agreed to redirect some 20 of 40 million doses of  the AstraZeneca vaccine which it had stockpiled, but opted not to administer domestically, citing unproven safety concerns.

Earlier, on April 16, SII head Adar Poonawalla had appealed to Biden on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the US to unite in beating the virus. He had tweeted that it was essential to lift the embargo on raw material exports, so that vaccine production could be accelerated. Poonawalla received no reaction till recently when the pall of Washington’s heedlessness towards India lifted.

However, to its credit, Washington has now gone even a step further in backing a waiver for the intellectual property (IP) rights to licence produce assorted virus vaccines the world over in a move that can only be described as ‘der aaye, durust aaye’ or better late than never.

But despite these recent initiatives it remains undeniable that the Quad’s grandiose pledges failed in materialising speedily, when they were needed straightaway to counter a humanitarian emergency in which tens of thousands had perished. Paradoxically, the concept of the Quad emerged after the 2004 devastating Indian Ocean tsunami that wreaked massive devastation. Unfortunately, its response to the virus tsunami sweeping unheeded across India, was tardy.

Which leads on to the next obvious question regarding the opportune effectiveness of the Quad in a military situation where urgency of response would be even more critical and instant. Would that, too, necessitate media and other pressures before the Quad’s collective might is mobilised? Perhaps. But, regrettably, it would be too late.

Building Small Circles in Name of Multilateralism is Groupism: China on Quad

‘Selective multilateralism is not the right choice,’ Chinese ambassador to India Sun Weidong has said.

New Delhi: China on Sunday, April 4, criticised the ‘Quad’ as an example of groupism and said it functioned by creating closed circles within the international community rather than genuine multilateralism.

In a conversation with activist Sudheendra Kulkarni, Chinese ambassador to India, Sun Weidong reiterated Beijing’s criticism about the ‘Quad’ countries – US, India, Australia and Japan, whose leaders recently held their first summit.

“Building small circles in the name of multilateralism is in fact ‘group politics’,” said the ambassador, in answer to a question related to the ‘Quad’.

He added, “Multilateralism prioritising one’s own interests is still unilateral thinking. Selective multilateralism is not the right choice.” The conversation took place on April 2, and the transcript was released on Sunday.


Sun further asserted that “true multilateralism” meant “upholding the UN-centred international system and the international order based on the international law”.

“It means openness and inclusiveness instead of closeness and exclusion. It means equal-footed consultation instead of supremacy over others.”

While the ‘Quad’ does not specifically mention China in any of its public documents, its emphasis on the shared values of democracy and the rule of law has ensured that its existence is seen as a response to the rise of Beijing’s influence in the Indo-Pacific.

Relations between India and China had plummeted last year since the military stand-off between the two armies in eastern Ladakh in May 2020. A violent face-off at Galwan valley in June 2020 led to the death of at least 24 soldiers – the first casualties along the Line of Actual Control in over four decades.

In February, India and China completed the disengagement of troops on the northern and southern shores of Pangong Lake. However, there are still multiple friction points where both troops continue to face-off on the icy heights of Ladakh, but there has been no further movement towards disengagement from the Chinese side.

Also read | First Quad Summit: One Billion Vaccine Doses For Asia, Cooperation on Approach to China

“I think the incidents which occurred in the border areas last year was unfortunate. Neither China nor India would like to see it happen. As China has repeatedly emphasised, the rights and wrongs of the incident are clear. So are the stakes involved,” said Sun.

He noted that the recent disengagement at Pangong Lake is “area is conducive to building mutual trust and further easing the situation on the ground”. “Against this backdrop, we should implement the consensus reached by the two leaders and strictly abide by the existing agreements, step up dialogue and communication, and improve the border management and control mechanisms to further ease, stabilise and control the border situation, avoid relapse and jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” Sun added.

However, the Chinese ambassador did not indicate a timeline for the resolution of the remaining points of stand-off on the border.

After relations had deteriorated last year, the Indian government took several steps to throttle Chinese economic influence in India, including banning mobile apps of Chinese IT companies and exclusion from infrastructure projects.

Sun asserted that efforts to ‘decouple’ economies would not be plausible in the globalised world. “China has been India’s largest trading partner for consecutive years, and India is China’s largest trading partner in South Asia. This is the result of the market functions and enterprises’ choices. Whether it be “complete decoupling” or ‘selective decoupling’, it will not be realistic and harm others without benefiting oneself,” he said.

He also claimed that China has never deliberately pursued a trade surplus with India. “The current imbalance in China-India trade is mainly caused by the difference in the trade structure. According to China’s statistics, despite the impact of the pandemic last year, the bilateral trade reached $87.6 billion, of which India’s exports to China were $20.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16%. It shows that the Chinese market will always welcome marketable commodities,” said the Chinese ambassador.

First Quad Summit: One Billion Vaccine Doses For Asia, Cooperation on Approach to China

In a veiled reference to China, leaders at the the first Quad summit pledged to promote a “free, open rules-based order, both in the Indo-Pacific and beyond”.

New Delhi: Meeting for the first time, the leaders of the four ‘Quad’ countries – India, Japan, United States and Australia, agreed to commit to manufacturing one billion doses of vaccine by 2022 for distribution in Asia, where China’s presence casts a large shadow.

While all of them had spoken on the phone with each other, this was the first virtual meeting of the four leaders – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The summit had been proposed by the US within the first weeks of the new Biden administration taking over earlier this year.

The virtual meeting marked the most significant upgrade to the ‘Quad’ format, which began first in 2007 as a tentative grouping of officials from four countries who had coordinated the disaster relief to the Indian Ocean tsunami and earthquake of 2004.

After the first Quad summit, there was also a joint statement, with the poetic title – “Spirit of the Quad”. While this is standard practice for most multilateral meetings, it has significance for the Quad as previous gatherings at various levels generated separate press releases from the four countries’ foreign offices.

“Quad has come of age. It will now remain an important pillar of stability in the region,” asserted Modi, in his opening remarks.

The summit’s big banner outcome will be focussed on the large number of one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses. The US and Japan will contribute to the funding to expand India’s manufacturing capacity, while Australia would provide the logistical support to strengthen access and ‘last-mile’ vaccine delivery in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

A fact-sheet to supplement the joint statement stated that the US Development Finance Corporation will work with Hyderabad-based Biological E. Limited to finance increased capacity to “produce at least 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022 with Stringent Regulatory Authorization (SRA) and/or World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Use Listing (EUL), including the Johnson & Johnson vaccine”.

Also read: Ahead of Quad Summit, India, China Discuss Remaining Standoff Points at Meeting on Border

The leaders also put their stamp on the creation of three new working groups. The first one will comprise of vaccine experts to devise the implementation plan, followed by two other working groups on climate change, and critical and emerging technology.

They also promised to meet again before the end of the year “in-person”.

‘Democratic values’

As usual, when the Quad meets, there was a lot of talk of shared “democratic” values.

“We bring diverse perspectives and are united in a shared vision for the free and open Indo-Pacific. We strive for a region that is free, open, inclusive, healthy, anchored by democratic values, and unconstrained by coercion,” reads the Quad joint statement.

While the aim of this Quad summit was to publicly brand it with a highly-ambitious international vaccine initiative, it was clear the leaders did spend some time on China behind closed doors.

Last year, after the Quad foreign ministers met in Tokyo in October, Chinese state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi had witheringly termed it an “Indo-Pacific NATO”.

Ahead of this meeting, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that China hoped that “relevant countries” will refrain from forming “closed and exclusive ‘cliques’ and not target the interests of “any third party”.

The Indian foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said today’s “constructive and positive outcome” from the summit should “put to rest any speculation against Quad’s activities directed against any state or other”.

In Washington, the US national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, told reporters: “The four leaders did discuss the challenges posed by China. They made clear that none of them have any illusions about China, but today was not fundamentally about China”.

The Japanese prime minister tweeted that there had been consultations on “China’s unilateral attempts to change the status quo” during the meeting, along with Myanmar and North Korea.

In language pointing at China, the joint statement said, “We will continue to prioritise the role of international law in the maritime domain, particularly as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and facilitate collaboration, including in maritime security, to meet challenges to the rules-based maritime order in the East and South China Seas”.

Sullivan also said, in context of the forthcoming meeting with China in Alaska, that US officials will raise concerns about China’s activities “whether it in Hong Kong, Xinjiang or Taiwan strait or frankly that we heard today from our quad partners – their coercion of Australia, their harassment of Senkaku islands, their aggression at the border with India”.

He also noted that the discussions also featured the cyberattack on the Microsoft Exchange, which is believed to have originated from China.

Asked whether the military stand-off with China in eastern Ladakh was brought up, Shringla, India’s top diplomat, said that contemporary issues of Indo-Pacific were discussed but refused to mention them specifically on the grounds of confidentiality.

However, sources stated that the matter did come up when the region was discussed, with other leaders expressing a sympathetic view over India’s LAC friction with China.

Also read: First Quad Leaders’ Summit to Be Held on March 12

On Myanmar, the Quad leaders emphasised “the urgent need to restore democracy and the priority of strengthening democratic resilience”. “Quad leaders felt that given their strong democratic credentials, it was important to work towards the restoration of democracy in Myanmar,” said Shringla.

In their opening remarks, the four leaders brought in their national traits and priorities. Biden referred to his $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” to jump-start the economy, while Modi claimed that he saw Quad’s vision as an extension of the Indian philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.

Out of the four leaders, only Australian PM Scott Morrison mentioned the Southeast Asian group. He said that the Quad had to bring in more partners to share in the vision “as expressed through ASEAN, for an open, inclusive — inclusive, and resilient Indo-Pacific; to respect and support their sovereignty, independence, and security by upholding our values and supporting international law.”

The return of the Quad

After addressing the other leaders as “Joe, Mr. Modi, and ScoMo”, Japanese PM Suga said that he felt “emotional” to witness the Quad holding their first full-fledged summit.

After several rounds of meeting in 2007, it fizzled out due to changing national priorities of some of the members and a bellicose reaction from China.

After a gap of ten years, the ‘Quad’ returned in November 2017, when joint secretary-level officials met on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Manila. The countries met against the backdrop of nearly all of them being more dependent on Chinese supply chains and China being among their top two trade partners.

All four members are heavily reliant on Chinese supply chains, and each of the four are significantly more economically integrated with China than with one another, especially India and Japan. China is the first or second-largest trading partner for all four countries, underscoring the risk of angering Beijing

It set the ball rolling, with the grouping then meeting fairly regularly. The first meeting of the Quad foreign ministers was held in 2019 in New York. After two more ministerial meetings, the Quad countries felt that it was time for the final upgrade.

“This is a natural evolution,” said Shringla. He didn’t want to commit to whether the Quad will now take on more formal structures in the future. “We already have announced the working groups. Let’s see how it evolves as more summits are held in future”.

‘Rules-based order’

India had earlier remained wary of giving an overt ‘anti-China’ character to this group or raise hackles in Beijing. But, the un-resolved border stand-off with China, which caused to death of 20 Indian soldiers, presumably lead to a slight change in policy. In November last year, Australia joined India, Japan and United States for the Malabar naval exercises.

Sullivan asserted that the Quad was “not a military alliance”, nor the “NATO despite some of the propaganda out there”. “What it is, is an opportunity for these four democracies to work as a group & with other countries on economics, technology, climate & security,” said the senior US administration official.

From the first meeting in 2017, the Quad countries in their separate press releases started to emphasise certain common phrases – “free and open Indo-Pacific”, “freedom of navigation and overflight”, “rules-based order” and “respect for international law”. However, India did not immediately jump onto that bandwagon of “free and open Indo-Pacific” and the other buzzwords at the first .

Comparison of press releases meeting of ‘Quad’ senior officials in November 2017.

With rest of the regional countries wary of the nature of the resurrected Quad, the second meeting in June 2018 of the senior officials for the first time mentioned support for “ASEAN centrality” and “ASEAN-led mechanisms”.

Comparison of press releases of June 2018 meeting of ‘Quad’ senior officials.

It was only from the third meeting of the renewed Quad platform that the key catchphrases of ‘Quad’ made their appearance in the MEA press release. They largely remain unaltered in the first ‘Quad’ joint statement.

Quad Nations Meeting to Announce Financing to Boost India’s Vaccine Output

The aim of the initiative by the Quad would be to reduce manufacturing backlogs, speed vaccination, and defeat some coronavirus mutations, a senior US administration official said.

Washington: A first ever leaders’ meeting of the Quad group of countries on Friday plans to announce financing agreements to support an increase in manufacturing capacity for coronavirus vaccines in India, a senior US administration official told Reuters.

The financing agreements will be between the United States, Japan and others and focus particularly on companies and institutions in India manufacturing vaccines for American drugmakers Novavax Inc and Johnson & Johnson, the official, who did not want to be identified by name, said.

The aim of the initiative by the Quad, which groups the United States, India, Japan and Australia, would be to reduce manufacturing backlogs, speed vaccination, and defeat some coronavirus mutations, the official said.

“The idea is that the quicker you can vaccinate, the more that you can defeat some of these mutations. So this is a capacity that will come online later this year, and it will substantially increase our capacity, collectively,” he said.

Also read: PM Modi, Japan Counterpart Suga Yoshihide Vow to Strengthen Quad, Collab in Indo-Pacific

Some of the additional vaccine capacity created in India would be used in vaccination efforts in Southeast Asian countries, the official added.

The White House announced earlier on Tuesday that President Joe Biden will participate in an online Quad meeting on Friday, the first leader-level meeting of a group seen as part of efforts to balance China’s growing military and economic power.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said she expected a range of issues facing the global community to be discussed “from the threat of COVID, to economic cooperation and … the climate crisis.”

India has urged the other Quad members to invest in its vaccine production capacity in an attempt to counter China’s widening vaccine diplomacy.

(Reuters)

First Quad Leaders’ Summit to Be Held on March 12

According to the readout, the leaders will discuss ongoing efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic among other issues.

New Delhi: In the biggest upgrade of the format, the first ever summit of leaders of the four countries in the ‘Quadrilateral framework’ will be held on March 12, the Ministry of External Affairs announced on Tuesday.

The MEA press release said that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating “along with Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison and Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga and President of U.S.A. Joseph R. Biden, in the first Leaders’ Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework, being held virtually on 12th March 2021”.

According to the readout, the leaders will “discuss ongoing efforts to combat Covid-19 pandemic and explore opportunities for collaboration in ensuring safe, equitable and affordable vaccines in the Indo-Pacific region”.

The Financial Times had reported on March 3 that the Quad countries were developing a plan for distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Asia “as part of a broader strategy to counter China’s influence”.

The other topics that could be discussed at the meeting will be resilient supply chains, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security, and climate change.

“The Leaders will discuss regional and global issues of shared interest, and exchange views on practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region,” said the MEA press note.

The ‘Quad’ is made up of four countries who had helped to coordinate disaster relief during the 2004 Tsunami. After some rounds of meeting between senior officials, the Quad format went into dormancy, with some members pulling out after China expressed annoyance.

The meetings resumed on the sidelines of the East Asia summit in 2017. The first meeting of foreign ministers were held in 2019 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Since, then, two other ministerial meetings of the Quad countries have been held so far, with the last one virtually, in February this year..

In First Meeting After Biden Inauguration, Quad Foreign Ministers Ponder Over Myanmar

The usual buzzwords of “free and open” Indo-Pacific, the rule of law and ASEAN centrality also featured in the separate statements issued by India, the US, Japan and Australia.

New Delhi: The continuing fallout from the Myanmar military takeover was one of the topics broached in the conference call between the foreign ministers of India, US, Japan and Australia, which also marked the first meeting of the ‘Quad’ after the new Joe Biden administration took over.

On Thursday, the 90-minute-long phone call was the third ministerial-level meeting of the Quad; the first was in New York in September 2019, followed by their second outing in Tokyo in October 2020.

It was the first time that US secretary of state Anthony Blinken had taken part in a Quad meeting, even though he had already spoken to the three other foreign ministers on the phone separately.

In the continuing tradition of the resumed Quad meetings since 2017, there was no joint statement but separate press releases by the four foreign offices, which had overlaps but also divergences based on their national priority.

The usual buzzwords of “free and open” Indo-Pacific, the rule of law and ASEAN centrality featured in the statement. Japan and India pointedly noted that there was increasing support for the concept of Indo-Pacific, especially from Europe.

All the press releases noted that the exchange of views was around current topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, counter-terrorism, maritime security, cybersecurity, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), supply chain resilience and Myanmar.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs stated that the ministers highlighted their “shared attributes as political democracies, market economies and pluralistic societies”. The Indian readout said the “changes” in the world makes a “strong case for their countries working closely together”. “It was important for the international community that the direction of changes remains positive and beneficial to all,” it added.


Australia described the Quad as “bringing together four like-minded democracies committed to respecting and upholding international rules and obligations through positive, practical engagement to protect and support the sovereignty, prosperity and security of the region”.

The Japanese foreign ministry’s press release was more explicit in pointing fingers at China. The four ministers “shared the recognition that the existing international order has been under challenge in various fields including unilateral attempts to change the status quo”, noted Japan.

According to Tokyo’s readout, the four ministers “concurred to strongly oppose unilateral and forceful attempts to change the status quo in the context of the East and South China Sea”. However, there was no reference to the East and South China sea in statements from India, Australia or the US.


There was a common mention of Myanmar in all the press releases, but the emphasis was varied.

Incidentally, India didn’t refer to any consensus but only noted minister S. Jaishankar’s remarks on the developments of February 1, when the Myanmar military declared an emergency and detained all elected leaders. “In the discussion pertaining to recent developments in Myanmar, the upholding of rule of law and the democratic transition was reiterated by India,” the read out said.

Australia also employed similar phrases to assert its commitment to Myanmar’s “democratic transition”, while labelling the developments as a “military coup”.

The US claimed that the ministers discussed “the urgent need to restore the democratically elected government in Burma” and the “priority of strengthening democratic resilience in the broader region”.

However, the most detailed remarks on the developments in the south-east Asian nation was issued by Japan, with foreign minister Motegi expressing grave concern about the “deteriorating situation in Myanmar”.

He stated that Japan, one of Myanmar’s largest donors, had told the military junta to “immediately stop violence against citizens including shootings” and release all the detained politicians, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

Echoing language used by the US, the Japanese statement also added that the “four ministers shared the view on the need to recover the democratic regime early”.

While India and Australia stated that they looked forward to regular ministerial-level Quad meetings, only Japan and the US mentioned that it will be held on an annual basis.

Quad: US Pitches for Anti-China Collaboration; Cautious Public Silence From Other 3

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was unabashed in urging the Quad countries to come together on an anti-China platform.

New Delhi: Even as United States made an explicit call on its Quad partners to ‘collaborate’ against China, there was a more cautious approach from India, Japan and Australia, with none of their foreign ministers naming Beijing as the core of their aligned interests.

The second meeting of foreign ministers of the four so-called ‘Quad’ countries on Tuesday was the first international conference hosted by Japan after COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic earlier this year.

As the transcript published by US State Department demonstrated, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was unabashed in urging the Quad countries to come together on an anti-China platform.

“As partners in this Quad, it is more critical now than ever that we collaborate to protect our people and partners from the CCP’s exploitation, corruption, and coercion,” he said in the opening remarks at the three-hour long meeting.

Pompeo added that China’s aggressive stance was witnessed in the “South China Sea, in the East China Sea, the Mekong, the Himalayas, the Taiwan Straits”. Among the public statements, including by India, this was the only reference to the military stand-off.

The senior US administration official also blamed China’s “authoritarian nature” for a “cover-up’ on the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. “The regime’s authoritarian nature led its leaders to lock up and silence the very brave Chinese citizens who were raising the alarm.”

While the US had made an unambiguous call for the Quad on China, the official transcript shows that there was a studied silence from the other foreign ministers.

Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar stated that the pandemic made it clear that it was imperative for “like-minded countries to coordinate responses” on various challenges.

Also read: Explainer: Why India Hasn’t Yet Invited Australia to the Quad’s Naval Exercises

“Our objective remains advancing the security and the economic interests of all countries having legitimate and vital interests in the region,” said Jaishankar. While all four countries are having fractious ties with China of various degrees, India is the only country with whom the Asian giant is currently involved in a military stand-off for over five months in the long disputed border’s western sector.

Jaishankar also defined the Quad as “wide-brimmed and pluralistic democracies with shared values”, who are collectively committed to the importance of “maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific”. “We remain committed to upholding the rules-based international order underpinned by the rule of law, transparency, freedom of navigation in international seas, and respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty and peaceful resolution of disputes.”

Just like Jaishankar, Australian foreign minister Marise Payne also framed the role of Quad in big picture terms, without naming China.

“The Quad has a positive agenda. It’s a diplomatic network that assists us as democracies to align ourselves in support of shared interests. We believe in a region governed by rules, not power. We believe in the fundamental importance of individual rights and in a region in which disputes are resolved according to international law. And we believe in regional security and recovery from COVID-19 that supports sovereign choices for the countries of the Indo-Pacific,” said Payne.

The host, foreign minister Motegi Toshimitsu, also doesn’t seem to have joined United States in waving the stick at China, at least publicly.

As per tradition, there were separate statements from all four countries on the meeting. All of them mentioned that the discussions included topics of maritime security, cyber security, infrastructure and disaster relief. Read-outs from India, Australia and United States specifically highlighted the need to strengthen supply chains.

While all countries mentioned that regional issues were discussion, Japan stated that views were exchanged on “North Korea and East and South China Sea”. Australia called for strengthening cooperation with regional partners and institutions, which was also mentioned by Japan’s Motegi.

The Australian foreign ministers also underlined the need for “quality infrastructure investment as a driver of strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive economic growth, which will be critical to supporting the region’s economic recovery”. Canberra has been one of the drivers to find an alternative to China’s Belt and Road initiative which finances and constructs connectivity infrastructure across the world.

Also read: The Quad Is Poised to Become Openly Anti-China Soon

The Australian readout was also the only one which stated that the four Quad foreign ministers emphasised that  “especially during a pandemic, it was vital that states work to ease tensions and avoid exacerbating long-standing disputes”.

All the ministers also held separate bilateral meetings on the sidelines. They also collectively called on the new Japanese prime minister, Yoshihide Suga.

The first meeting of senior officials of the four countries took place in May 2007, as a consequence of their coordinated response to the 2004 tsunami. However, China had issued a protest note to all the four countries after the meeting, terming it as an anti-China alliance.

Due to various factors and the differing interest of the countries, the Quad went dormant for a decade. The 2017 East Asia Summit saw the senior officials again meeting to reaffirm support for a “free and open Indo-Pacific” and the centrality of ASEAN in the regional security architecture.

The annual gathering in New York for the UN General Assembly in September 2019 led to the foreign ministers upgrading the ‘quad’ format for the first time.

Last year, China’s public criticism of the Quad had been more vague. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi had stated in July 2019 that one of the principles of regional cooperation should be to “focus on openness and inclusiveness, without forming factions or seeking small cliques”.

In 2020, the gloves were off – from both sides. Last month, China’s vice foreign minister Luo Zhaohui, who had been earlier posted as Chinese ambassador to India, described the Quad as an “anti-China front line”, which is apparently “also known as the mini NATO”.