Quad countries make thinly veiled swipe at China
Al JazeeraLeaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States issue a statement calling for stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The leaders of the Quad group – Australia, India, Japan and the United States – have delivered a thinly veiled swipe at Beijing’s behaviour at a summit in Hiroshima. “We strongly oppose destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,” the statement said, using diplomatic language that appeared to refer to China’s economic tactics to gain leverage over poorer countries as well as its military expansion in the Pacific. “We express serious concern at the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coastguard and maritime militia vessels, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities,” the statement added, clearly referring to Chinese construction of bases on former offshore reefs and harassment of non-Chinese vessels in disputed waters. In their statement, they stressed the Quad’s support for infrastructure improvements across the vast Asia-Pacific region, while saying, in another apparent dig at China, that they wanted to assist such investments but would “not impose unsustainable debt burdens” on recipients of assistance.