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Quad leaders press for free Indo-Pacific

‘It’ll find no support’: China slams summit

Published : Sunday, 26 September, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 777

WASHINGTON, Sept 25: President Joe Biden and the leaders of Australia, India and Japan promised Friday to work together for a stable, open and democratic Indo-Pacific in a veiled dig at China during their first in-person summit together.
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.
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."
"We stand for the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values and territorial integrity of states," they said. "Free and open" has become code for expressing worry about swelling Chinese economic, diplomatic and military presence -- including threats to vital international sea lanes.
Ahead of the first in-person Quad summit among the leaders of the US, India, Japan and Australia in Washington, China on Friday criticised the grouping, saying the formation of 'exclusive closed cliques' runs against the trend of times and will find 'no support'.
 "China always believes that any regional cooperation mechanism should not target a third party or harm its interests. Seeking exclusive closed cliques against a third country runs against the trend of the times and aspiration of countries in the region. It will find no support," he said.
Defending the Chinese claims in the South China Sea, Zhao said, "China is a builder of world peace, contributor of global development and upholder of world order."
The growth of China means the growth for peace and stability in the world and China's contribution to peace, stability and development in Asia Pacific is therefore all to see. Relevant countries should do more that is conducive to solidarity and cooperation with the four countries in the region, he added.
In November 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.
Biden, who often talks about democracies needing to prove their capability in an age of powerful autocracies in Russia and China, sought to show the Quad was about action.  "We're four major democracies with a long history of cooperation. We know how to get things done and we are up to the challenge," he said.
India said it would export eight million one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines by the end of next month. "This is an immediate delivery from the Quad into the Indo-Pacific region," Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters, vowing to supply "quality and affordable" vaccines.
While modest in number -- Biden promised earlier this week that the US would donate an extra 500 million doses to the world -- it represents the return of India's giant pharmaceutical industry after New Delhi stopped exports to handle the country's own severe Covid outbreak. During virtual talks in March, the Quad leaders said they would supply more than one billion vaccines by the end of 2022, with India providing production, Japan and the United States financing and Australia the logistics.    -AFP







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