The leaders of the United States, Australia, India and Japan said after a summit on Saturday (21.09.2024) that they were “seriously concerned” about tensions in the East and South China Seas, although they avoided directly mentioning Beijing.
“We are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas”the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) group said in a statement after meeting in the city of Wilmington, Delaware, where US President Joe Biden grew up.
At the meeting, Biden insisted that the so-called Quad group will survive global tensions; the countries that make up that alliance discussed at the summit the challenges that the rise of China poses for their countries.
“Although there will be challenges, the world will change because the Quad is here to stay”the 81-year-old president said as he opened the formal four-way summit at his former high school in his hometown of Delaware.
The talks in Wilmington, at the end of Biden’s presidential term, reflect the importance Biden has placed on the so-called Quad group, which he has promoted as a counterweight to Beijing.
Biden welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his home on Saturdayfor private individual meetings. He also received Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese there on Friday evening.
“I am very happy that they were able to be in my home and see where I grew up,” he said. The media were not allowed access to the meetings.
The US president posted photos of himself and Albanese on social media and then with Kishida in a wood-paneled lounge on his property, and showed them the view of a lake from a terrace.
Many of Washington’s allies, however, are keeping an eye on the outcome of the upcoming presidential election between the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump (2017-2021).
There are growing questions about what would happen if Trump, who has threatened to withdraw the United States from groups such as NATO while praising Russia and North Korea, returns to the White House.
“The Quad is here to stay”
Asked by reporters whether the Quad would survive beyond the November 5 election, Biden replied: “Well beyond November.”
Modi made a similar promisea commitment that Washington, Canberra and Tokyo will welcome as they court historically non-aligned New Delhi.
“Our message is that the Quad is here to stay,” Modi said, echoing Biden’s remarks at the start of the summit.
The Quad “is not against anyone”the Indian prime minister added in an apparent nod to China, although he stressed that the group is in favour of a “rules-based international order”.
The White House reported Biden’s meetings with Kishida and Albanese, in which they “shared concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s coercive and destabilizing activities.”
They also called for “maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” a reference to tensions over Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its territory and will reunite by force if necessary.
US officials said that The meeting will produce “concrete results”such as expanded maritime security cooperation and the first-ever joint Coast Guard exercises among the four nations, which will include a meeting on a U.S. ship.
But as Biden enters his final stretch, the summit was also a very personal diplomatic act in his hometown.
Biden has recently made a strong push for the Quad group, which dates back to 2007, as part of an emphasis on international alliances after the isolationist Trump years.
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