President Joe Biden is taking part in the first leaders’ summit of the informal international alliance, known as the ‘Quad’, while his government is stepping up efforts to deal with China’s growing influence.
The group, which also includes India, Japan and Australia, is virtually meeting due to coronavirus restrictions.
Biden began the summit by emphasizing the need for a ‘free and open’ Indo-Pacific region.
Climate change, Covid-19 vaccines and technology are all on the agenda – but do not mention China. Every country has taken the trouble to make it clear that this is not an anti-Beijing club.
Ned Price told reporters on Thursday, but “to showcase what democracies can deliver, both to our own people and to the wider world.” “
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Despite these protests, the alliance is widely seen as an attempt to curb the growing military and economic power of Beijing.
“This is a group of countries that are all concerned about China, and everyone is trying to keep the line for an open, democratic non-Chinese way forward,” Bill Hayton, author and China analyst, told NBC News.
However, he added, the ‘Quad’ is not a formal alliance in the same way as NATO and therefore has no strict duty to defend each other.
Representatives of the four members of the ‘Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’ met sporadically after it was formally established in 2007.
But the group was revived by former President Donald Trump, whose Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended meetings, while Washington wanted to strengthen the alliance amid growing tensions with Beijing.
Relations between the two largest economies in the world have deteriorated with clashes over trade, Covid-19, the autonomy of Hong Kong, Taiwan and alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang.
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken described China America’s “greatest geopolitical test of the 21st century” as a sign that Biden’s government would take a tough stand.
However, it is not just the US that has clashed with China.
India, Australia and Japan all faced their own security challenges, thus strengthening their interest in the alliance with four nations.
Japan has had years of grievances over disputed islands and maritime claims, while Indian and Chinese troops were involved in deadly border clashes over the disputed territory in the Himalayas last year.
Australia faced Beijing’s trade pressure, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday the “Quad” meeting was a “historic moment” and an opportunity for “a new anchor for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific” to create ‘.
The group’s revival also got a boost last year after India invited Australia to join forces with the US and Japan.
Chinese analyst Hayton says the Chinese analyst should try to offer the Biden government more than just a security measure. Instead, it should be in line with the “full spectrum involvement” that China offers to countries in the region, such as aid and vaccines, all of which are “completely lacking in the Trump era,” he added.
For that, the leaders are expected to announce a plan to boost the production capacity of the coronavirus vaccine for India, which comes as China continues to pursue its own policy of so-called vaccine diplomacy around the world.
“The idea that you can contain China in some way is just ridiculous, but I think it’s a way of trying to make sure that China does not set the agenda completely,” Hayton added.
It is not surprising that Beijing is not a supporter of the alliance.
Chinese officials did not comment directly on Friday’s meeting, but had earlier denounced the group and warned against ‘exclusive clicks’.
“For Beijing, this is bad news,” said Michael Shoebridge, director of defense, strategy and national security at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a thin tank.
“The agenda of the Quad … is exactly the kind of multilateral cooperation that Beijing fears and can hardly orchestrate.”
The virtual summit comes amid a US diplomatic wave in Asia.
Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will visit Japan and South Korea next week in an effort to strengthen key alliances. And Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, will travel to the United States to meet with Biden in April.
Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan will also meet with top Chinese officials in Alaska next week, the first high-level contact between the two countries since Biden’s adoption.
Zhao Lijian, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told the press on Thursday that Beijing hopes Washington will move relations back on a ‘healthy and stable’ path.
He said China was asking the US to “reject the Cold War mentality and zero-sum game, respect China’s sovereignty, security and development interests and stop interfering in China’s domestic affairs.”
Abigail Williams, Carol E. Lee and Sally Bronston contributed.