Hours before starting the Quad’s security dialogue in Tokyo, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday backed the formalization of the informal group to build a “true security framework” that could counter the challenge posed by a Aggressive China. Other countries, Pompeo told Nikkei Asia in an interview, could become part of this framework at “the appropriate time.”
Tuesday’s meeting was the first face-to-face interaction between the foreign ministers of the four Indo-Pacific countries (the United States, India, Japan and Australia) since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in Wuhan in China last December.
Foreign ministers had taken the first step to reactivate the security dialogue and update it to a ministerial level in September last year when they met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. In his opening remarks at the Quad meeting, Chancellor S Jaishankar stressed that the world has been “profoundly transformed” since then.
India, which had been preparing to host Chinese President Xi Jinping, has spent the past 150 days embroiled in a bitter clash with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army that has resulted in deaths on both sides.
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China’s relations with the other three Quad members have also plummeted in the last year after Beijing, credited with spreading the coronavirus disease that has infected 35 million and killed more than 1 million He took an aggressive approach elsewhere as well.
“These are the Chinese using coercive power. This is not how great nations operate. So our mission is to reduce that, ”Pompeo told Nikkei Asia.
Pompeo was also particularly ruthless to China in his public comments before the Quad meeting.
“As partners in this Quad, it is now more critical than ever that we work together to protect our people and partners from the exploitation, corruption and coercion of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party),” Pompeo said.
“We see it in the South and East Seas of China, the Mekong, the Himalayas, the Taiwan Strait.”
Stephen Biegun, the US undersecretary of state, had hinted at what a formalized Quad might look like last month when he pointed out in an online seminar that the Indo-Pacific region did not have “strong multilateral structures.”
“They have nothing of the strength of NATO, or of the European Union … There is certainly an invitation there at some point to formalize a structure like this,” he said.
In a statement issued after Tuesday’s Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a statement from the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the foreign ministers would hold the consultations “regularly.”
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“The Foreign Ministers exchanged points of view on regional issues of mutual interest and issues related to connectivity; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief; maritime security and protection; health security and fight against terrorism. They reaffirmed their collective vision of maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. They reiterated their strong support for the centrality of ASEAN and highlighted their willingness to work towards a common vision for the Indo-Pacific. Appreciating the value of these consultations, they agreed to hold them regularly, ”the statement said.
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