Original title: The leaders of the United States, Japan, India and Australia gathered at the White House, but they are all about China without mentioning China?
On September 24, local time, US President Biden hosted the first offline summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad”) at the White House. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Indian Prime Minister Mo Di and Australian Prime Minister Morrison.
This is the second Quad Summit this year, but the one in March this year was an online video conference, and this one was an offline meeting. According to analysis by American media, the convening of this meeting highlights the urgency of the United States to shift the focus of its foreign policy from prolonged wars and traditional European allies to the Asia-Pacific region and to respond to the rapidly rising China.
At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China on September 24, some reporters asked questions about the first face-to-face summit of the US, Japan, India and Australia “Quadruple Security Dialogue” to be held in Washington. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that China has always believed that any regional cooperation mechanism should not target or harm the interests of third parties and engage in closed, exclusive, “small circles” targeting other countries. This goes against the trend of the times and runs counter to the wishes of regional countries. , Unpopular and destined to fail.
The first offline summit meeting under the epidemic, emphasizing the “free and open Indo-Pacific”
According to Reuters, on September 24 local time, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Indian Prime Minister Modi, and Australian Prime Minister Morrison gathered at the White House to hold the first Quad offline summit with host Biden. The meeting lasted for two hours.
Yoshihide Suga told reporters after the meeting on the 24th that the four countries have agreed to cooperate on vaccines, clean energy, and space issues. At the same time, a summit will be held every year in the future. He also pointed out that the meeting highlighted the solidarity between the four countries and reiterated “a firm commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Modi promised at the meeting that India will export 8 million doses of the new crown vaccine by the end of October. According to the agreement reached at the first video summit in March this year, India should provide 1 billion doses of the new crown vaccine to the Indo-Pacific region, but soon India fell into the second most serious epidemic and banned vaccine exports in April.
At the beginning of the conference, Biden also announced a scholarship program that would sponsor students from these four countries to study for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degrees in the United States.
In addition, Quad is expected to announce some other agreements, including cooperation in strengthening the secure semiconductor supply chain, combating illegal fishing, strengthening the awareness of territorial waters sovereignty, and cooperation plans in 5G and climate change.
Liu Weidong, a researcher at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with the Beijing News that the core goal of this meeting is to establish institutional cooperation between the United States, Japan, India and Australia. Dialogue mechanisms, etc., to establish closer ties between the four countries.
Specifically, in addition to strengthening institutional cooperation, this meeting will also strengthen cooperation at the working level, such as proposing some specific cooperation methods in the fields of diplomacy, security, economy and trade. In addition, they may also explore further expansion of the Quartet mechanism to attract more countries-such as Southeast Asian countries into this mechanism, or explore some multilateral dialogue mechanisms.
Reuters pointed out that although the leaders of the four countries did not mention China in their public speeches, China is clearly their biggest concern. In fact, just a week ago, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia just announced the establishment of a tripartite security alliance AUKUS (Australia-UK-US). The United States and Britain will assist Australia in building at least eight nuclear submarines. “Another move.
“Although we will not talk about China publicly and clearly, there is no doubt that the core of the Quad Summit is aimed at China.” Liu Weidong analyzed and pointed out that whether it is AUKUS or Quad, it is the Biden administration that has shifted its strategic focus to the Asia-Pacific region and concentrated its energy. Specific actions in response to China’s rise.
Hu Shisheng, director of the South Asia Institute of the China Institute of Modern International Relations, also told the Beijing News that after Biden took office, he had always hoped to establish a so-called “democratic alliance” and continue to win over other countries to contain China. “From the proposal of’G7+3 (Australia, India, South Korea)’ to become the so-called’Democratic 10 countries’, to the recent establishment of AUKUS in the United States, Britain and Australia, to the continuous operations of the United States, Japan, India and Australia, these small groups have actually The above are all initiated by the United States in order to maintain its dominant international order, and the core goal is to form a united front to contain China.”
Quad is gradually diversifying, and its geopolitical impact on China is getting bigger and bigger
“This Quad offline summit is a landmark event, which means that Quad is further strengthening, stabilizing, and deepening.” Hu Shisheng told the Beijing News.
The US-Japan-India-Australia “Quadruple Security Dialogue” was established after the Southeast Asian tsunami in 2004, with the main purpose of coordinating the distribution of humanitarian relief supplies. In 2006, Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe first proposed this concept based on the vision of the “Arc of Freedom and Prosperity” in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Rim countries. In 2007, he held a maritime exercise and a bureau-level dialogue. But afterwards, due to Australia’s withdrawal and completion of the tsunami relief work in Southeast Asia, the mechanism was declared disbanded.
Until 2017, the Trump administration restarted Quad, and in 2019 it elevated the dialogue to ministerial level. In 2019 and 2020, Quad held two foreign ministers’ meetings in New York and Tokyo. According to BBC reports, Quad held five meetings during Trump’s tenure.
After Biden came to power, he has repeatedly mentioned the Indo-Pacific strategy, and Quad has received widespread attention as a result, and is considered to be the main force in the Indo-Pacific region to contain China. In March of this year, the leaders of the four countries of the United States, Japan, India and Australia held the first Quad online meeting, which is regarded as a “leap-forward development” of the four-nation partnership.
On March 12, 2021 local time, Washington, DC, U.S. President Biden participated in the “Quad Security Dialogue” (Quad) summit video conference. /IC photoIn the joint communiqu issued after the meeting, the four countries said that they are united as a “shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific” and are committed to achieving a “free, open, inclusive, healthy, and democratic value-based foundation.” , Areas not restricted by coercion”, clarifies the basic philosophy of Quad.
Six months later, Quad’s first offline summit was held at the White House. Biden said at the White House that day that Quad represents “four democratic partners with the same worldview and a common vision for the future.” Morrison once again expressed his desire to establish an “Indo-Pacific region free from coercion, respect for sovereignty, and peaceful settlement of disputes.”
Hu Shisheng pointed out that from the development of Quad in recent years, it can be seen that this four-nation mechanism has become more and more smooth and has become the “core framework” of the US Indo-Pacific strategy.
“When Quad was first established, it mainly focused on maritime security strategy and maintained the maritime security order of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.” Hu Shisheng analyzed that, now, the content of Quad’s cooperation has gradually diversified. In addition to military cooperation, it has also joined Economics, technology, climate change, and global governance.
At the first Quad Video Summit on March 12 this year, the leaders of the four countries discussed “regional and global issues involving common interests” and discussed the so-called “pragmatic cooperation in maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.” Exchange opinions. After the meeting, the Quartet established three working groups-vaccine expert working group, key and new technology working group and climate working group.
Hu Shisheng said that the four countries of the United States, Japan, India and Australia have their own advantages. Therefore, if they build a new industrial supply chain and innovation chain, it will have a relatively large impact on the global geo-economic sector. Take vaccine supply as an example. The United States has strong intellectual property rights and capital, Japan has capital and scientific and technological support, India has strong vaccine production capacity, and Australia can provide logistics support. These four countries can form a strong vaccine production supply chain. , But was later shelved because of the rebound of the epidemic in India.
“At present, the supply chains, industrial chains, and innovation chains of the four countries are still in the process of planning and testing the waters. China needs to pay close attention to this, because once these industrial chains, supply chains, and innovation chains are truly formed, they will definitely have a strong impact on China. It has a big impact.” Hu Shisheng pointed out that one of Quad’s self-evident goals is to contain China’s development. From the initial military repression, it now hopes to contain China economically and in the field of innovation, and to compete with China in terms of global governance. .
Hu Shisheng further pointed out that “Quad is becoming more and more diversified, more substantive, and even has a trend of further expansion. And the geopolitical impact of this change on China will become more and more obvious, and we need to be vigilant.”
Beijing News reporter Xie Lian
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