US to join Australia, India, Japan in first-ever Quad summit
Al JazeeraThe ‘Quad’ meeting comes as the US has stressed working with allies in the Indo-Pacific to counter Beijing’s growing might. US President Joe Biden will hold the first-ever joint talks with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan as part of an emerging four-way alliance seen as fundamental to efforts to balance China’s growing military and economic power. Friday’s virtual meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as the “Quad”, will be one of Biden’s first summits since taking office and comes as his administration has sought to counter China’s military and trade expansion by strengthening alliances. Japan, for its part, has said Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and voiced alarm about China’s “unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China Sea” as well as the status of rights in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. The Indian foreign ministry has said the four leaders “will exchange views on practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.” The meeting is also expected to include the announcement of financing agreements to support an increase in manufacturing capacity for coronavirus vaccines in India, something New Delhi has urged to counter China’s widening distribution of vaccines in the region as part of its so-called “vaccine diplomacy”, the senior US administration official told Reuters.