The Quad and China

October 2, 2024

NEW DELHI – The Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) is a grouping of four Indo-Pacific nations, US, Japan, Australia and India. Its fourth inperson Quad leaders’ summit was hosted by President Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware, recently. This would be the last summit for President Biden as also for the Japanese premier, Fumio Kishida, who will resign shortly. PM Modi in his remarks, terming the Quad as the ‘force for the global good,’ mentioned, “We are not against anybody, we are for international rulesbased order, respect for sovereignty.” He added, “Our message is clear Quad is here to stay, to assist, to partner and to complement.” The reality is that despite all announcements, the Quad is an anti-China grouping, though its joint statement, also termed as the Wilmington declaration, never mentioned China even once.

Biden was caught on ‘hot mic’ telling others, “We believe Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges and minimise the turbulence in China.” He added that China continues to “behave aggressively, testing us all across the region on several fronts, including on economic and technology issues.” The camera feed also picked up the US NSA mentioning the first topic for discussion is ‘China.’ The joint statement covered a free and open Indo-Pacific, dangerous and aggressive actions in the maritime domain, destabilizing or unilateral actions to change the status quo etc., all concerning China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Lin Jian, mentioned in a press conference that the US is ‘lying through its teeth’ on the Quad not being aimed at China and ‘even the US media does not believe it.’

The Global Times, the Chinese government mouthpiece, mentioned in an