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Quad summit timing reflects Biden admin’s priorities: US
Washington: The timing of the first summit-level meet of the Quad — short for Quadrilateral Security Dialogue — reflects the “importance we place on close cooperation” with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region as it will be one of the earliest of President Joe Biden’s multilateral meetings, the White House said late on Tuesday
Washington: The timing of the first summit-level meet of the Quad — short for Quadrilateral Security Dialogue — reflects the “importance we place on close cooperation” with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region as it will be one of the earliest of President Joe Biden’s multilateral meetings, the White House said late on Tuesday.
Biden will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australia’s Scott Morrison and Japan’s Yoshihide Suga virtually on Friday in a meeting that will cement the status of the security grouping that has moved rapidly towards acquiring an institutional structure in recent years.
“That President Biden has made this one of his earliest multilateral engagements speaks to the importance we place on close cooperation with our allies and partners in the Indo- Pacific,” said Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary at her daily news briefing on Tuesday.
President Biden has held virtual bilateral summits with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico — the US’s two closest neighbours — and one multilateral meeting, a private video conference with his G-7 counterparts.
“A range of issues, of course, will be discussed -- we expect to be discussed, I should say -- facing the global community from the threat of Covid, to economic cooperation, and of course, to the climate crisis,” Psaki said of the upcoming Quad meet.
The first summit-level meeting was announced by the external affairs ministry in New Delhi this week. “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,” the ministry said of agenda. “The Summit will provide an opportunity to exchange views on contemporary challenges such as resilient supply chains, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security, and climate change,” it added.
The US National Security Council accorded some more context to the meeting. “@POTUS and this administration are committed to working with our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific to secure the peace, defend our shared values, and advance our prosperity,” it said in a tweet, using the acronym used in the US President’s twitter handle.
Formed in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami — though some say it was started in 2007 — the Quad seemed to be all but over in 2008 chiefly due to Australia’s reluctance to continue. The grouping was revived in 2017 and the first meeting took place on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Manila, 2017. It was held at the level of officials.
The first Quad ministerial-level meeting was held in September 2019 on the margins of the UN General Assembly meetings in New York. They met again in October 2020 and in February 2021 after President Biden took office.
And now, the first Summit is on Friday.
Reports have suggested it was the US that pushed hard for a summit-level meeting. The Biden administration made clear its enthusiasm for the grouping very clear and explicit form the start. “I think we really want to carry forward and build on that format, that mechanism, which we see as fundamental, a foundation upon which to build substantial American policy,” Jake Sullivan, the National Security Adviser, said in January.
