CLAYMONT, Delaware, (Reuters) – Leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States are taking new security steps in the Indian Ocean as outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden hosts counterparts from the Quad grouping established due to shared concerns about China.
Biden welcomed Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a four-way meeting near his Delaware hometown yesterday to stress the importance of maintaining the Quad, which he sees as a signature foreign policy achievement, before he leaves office after the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
Leaders from the four nations were rolling out plans to expand an Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness launched two years ago to include the Indian Ocean region, senior Biden administration officials said.
The leaders are planning joint coast guard operations that will see Australian, Japanese and Indian personnel spend time on a U.S. coast guard vessel. The countries also plan increased military logistics cooperation, the officials said.
While the White House said the Quad summit was directed at no other country and that Beijing should find no issue with the initiative, Biden started the summit’s group session with a briefing on China.
He described the country as shifting tactics, but not strategy, while continuing to test the United States in the South China and East China Seas as well as the Taiwan Strait.
“We believe (Chinese leader) Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges and minimize the turbulence in China diplomatic relationships, and he’s also looking to buy himself some diplomatic space, in my view, to aggressively pursue China’s interest,” Biden said in remarks carried on an official event feed.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, including territory inside exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. It also claims territories in the East China Sea contested by Japan and Taiwan. China also views self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory.
Xi has objected to the Quad grouping, seeing it as an effort to encircle Beijing and ramp up conflict.
Analysts said new maritime security initiatives would send a message to Beijing. They said it also represents a further shift of emphasis of the Quad’s activities to security issues, reflecting growing concerns about China’s intentions.
The leaders are also stepping up work to provide critical and security technologies, including a new open radio access network, to the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia, regions of intense competition with China.
A health initiative by the leaders is aimed at combating cervical cancer, officials said.