Joe Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. will share any surplus vaccines with the rest of the world.
Photographer: Oliver Contreras / The New York Times / Bloomberg
Photographer: Oliver Contreras / The New York Times / Bloomberg
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As President Joe Biden wants to cultivate ties with allies in Asia, he is reforming the message to prevent the US from intentions when it comes to China.
Australia, Japan and India are all concerned about Beijing’s growing economic and military levy, and the first meeting on Friday of leaders of the group known as the Quad will be a testament to unity against Beijing. Nevertheless, they are wary of pulling through the US to a pure anti-China bloc, especially given the trade ties each has with the world’s second largest economy.
The new U.S. government is therefore calibrating its outreach to the Quad to highlight the opportunity to work together on a range of broader issues, including combating the coronavirus pandemic and climate change.
The White House under Donald Trump has diverted cooperation on trade and the environment and focused on confronting China directly with tariffs, sanctions and a strengthened military presence in the Pacific. While Biden is likely to continue a hard line over Beijing, seen by his move to bans the export of 5G components to Huawei Technologies Co., the government wants to avoid the perception that it is only interested in other countries in the region for their help with it.
This comes as the US begins a spate of diplomatic relations with Asia, including the Virtual Quad Assembly. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will also travel to North Asia early next week to secure Japan and South Korea from long-standing security agreements before Austin travels to India.
These talks are likely to set the tone for a meeting next week between top diplomats from the United States and China – the highest engagement since Biden took office.
In addition, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga plans to visit the US in the first half of April and is expected to be the first summit with a foreign leader for Biden, Katsunobu Kato, general secretary, told reporters. Friday in Tokyo.
A senior official in India’s Foreign Ministry said the Quad members would discuss a joint funding plan to increase India’s Covid-19 vaccine production capacity, including shots that could work against newer virus strains.
The official did not give further details as the discussions are at a preliminary stage, but the aim is to better share the stock among the four countries and provide a counterpoint to China’s own efforts to vaccination diplomacy in the region. This would reflect Biden’s new version national security framework, which promised to work with allies as a ‘common front’.
“A vaccination initiative could prove to be a positive contribution to the region,” said Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “It’s not just about limiting China, it’s a value addition that will benefit a number of countries and that the composite capabilities can do.”
Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. will share any surplus vaccines “with the rest of the world.”
The White House says the government hopes to use Friday’s talks to explore various areas of potential cooperation. Yet Biden’s team left little doubt that the meeting was intended as a sign for China.
“The fact that President Biden made this one of his earliest multilateral commitments speaks to the importance we attach to close cooperation with our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific,” said White House Secretary Jen Psaki.
For Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, leader of the most China-dependent developed economy, the summit is even more important as China punishes its country with trade revenge after calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of the pandemic. Morrison told reporters the meeting would “see the Quad move to a whole new level, something that Australia has been working on for many years.”
Restrictions on collaboration
But it can also take a look at the challenges facing the Biden government in getting allies on the same page on non-economic issues. Even with provocative border disputes in the Himalayas and concerns about China’s modernizing army, India was reluctant to make the Quad a military grouping, while Australia was still reluctant to risk its already weakened economic ties with China.
“There will always be overlapping interests and areas of mutual concern, and the Quad could focus on access to vaccines or financing infrastructure in Southeast Asia as examples,” said Natasha Kassam, a former Australian diplomat, director of the public. of the Lowy Institute, said. opinion and foreign policy program. “But on thorny security issues, especially those directly related to China, it is difficult to imagine the four coming into shared positions.”
Aman Thakker, a deputy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says caution could fade as China continues to flex its muscles in the region. The border tension between China and India last year, for example, almost washed into a direct conflict.
By now, Quad leaders are likely to focus on other issues Ryan Hass, a Brookings employee who previously oversaw China affairs at the U.S. National Security Council.
“Implicit in the structure of the agenda will be the recognition that the US and others will enjoy greater appeal and influence by offering solutions to problems than opposing China,” he said. “If the coordinated efforts of the Quad countries encourage China to provide solutions to regional challenges, it’s better.”
– With assistance from Jason Scott and Jon Herskovitz
(Updates to Suga’s summit plan with Biden in the seventh paragraph.)