Quad leaders press for free Indo-Pacific as China concerns grow

Gulf Today Report

Leaders of the United States, Japan, India and Australia vowed on Friday to pursue a free and open Indo-Pacific region "undaunted by coercion" at their first in-person summit, which presented a united front amid shared concerns about China.

In Biden's latest effort to cement US leadership in the face of a rising China, the so-called Quad agreed to move ahead on a joint plan to provide Covid-19 vaccines around Asia, launched a new climate initiative and said the four nations would begin holding annual summits.

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The two-hour meeting at the White House of the Quad, as the grouping of four major democracies is called, will be watched closely in Beijing, which criticized the group as "doomed to fail."

"We stand for the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values, and territorial integrity of states," U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a joint statement after the talks.

Joe Biden listens during the Quad summit in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Friday. AP

Without any explicit mention of China, the leaders of the four democracies in a joint statement said they were committed to "promoting the free, open, rules-based order, rooted in international law and undaunted by coercion."

"Free and open" has become code for expressing worry about swelling Chinese economic, diplomatic and military presence — including threats to vital international sea lanes.

While China was not mentioned in the public remarks by the four leaders or in the lengthy joint statement and a factsheet issued afterwards, Beijing was clearly on top of the mind.

Their statement made frequent mention of the leaders' insistence on rules-based behaviour in a region where China has been trying to flex its muscles.

The Quad leaders also voiced support for small island states, especially those in the Pacific, in order to enhance their economic and environmental resilience.