Quad here to stay: Leaders underline endurance of grouping
Hindustan TimesWhen PM Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Anthony Albanese and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida stepped out for a family photo of Quad leaders on Saturday afternoon right before the summit commenced, a reporter asked Biden if the Quad will survive beyond November. Over a packed 24 hours after landing in US, Modi attended the Quad summit where all leaders produced a declaration that employed the strongest language so far expressing concerns about China’s actions in the South and East China Seas without mentioning China, unveiled an ambitious cancer moonshot initiative, and expanded security cooperation in the maritime domain. Quad is here to stay, to assist, to partner and to complement.” Kishida said, “It is ever more important for us, the Quad, who share values such as freedom and democracy, to continue to demonstrate our firm commitment to our common vision of FOIP, the free and open Indo-Pacific, to the international community.” And Albanese added Australia’s voice to express continued commitment to the group and spoke about Quad’s short history allowing it not to be confined by tradition but leaving room to evolve and contribute. But as Biden’s hot mic moment, and the substantial deliverables that focused on maritime security and technology showed, the big geopolitical message from Quad was that four democracies remained deeply concerned about China’s behaviour and saw working together as an important way to deal with it.