The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad should be regularized and further formalized so that there are modalities for cooperation and interoperability among its members to address global challenges, US Under Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said Tuesday.
Biegun, who paid a week-long visit to India and Bangladesh last week, spoke ahead of the 2 + 2 ministerial dialogue between India and the US expected to take place from October 26 to 27 and the Malabar military exercise. in November he will join the armies of all Quad members: Australia, India, Japan and the US.
The top US diplomat also criticized China for not doing enough to help find a long-term solution to the problem of the more than 8,000,000 Rohingya refugees currently sheltering in Bangladesh, particularly due to its close ties with Myanmar.
Biegun acknowledged that the United States currently “does not have a policy designed for Quad expansion” and does not “advocate for Quad-plus”, although it has mutual defense agreements with partners in the Indo-Pacific region, such as Australia, Japan, Korea. the South and Thailand. .
However, he added: “It is our opinion that with the passage of time, the Quad should be further regularized and, at some point, formalized as well, as we really begin to understand what the parameters of this cooperation are and how we can regularize it.
Such regularization, he said, will strengthen cooperation within the Quad and with other Indo-Pacific countries, especially if there is a framework to deal with crises, regardless of whether they are natural disasters or economic and security problems.
“What you want to do is have a certain modality of cooperation, interoperability and understanding [of] the respective strengths that each partner can bring to address any number of global challenges, ”said Beigun.
Since its revival in 2017, the Quad has gained prominence for its four members along with the emergence of an increasingly assertive and aggressive China. The group was elevated to ministerial level in September last year and India formally invited Australia on Monday to join the Malabar naval exercise that takes place annually with the United States and Japan.
Biegun said the Quad remains a “somewhat undefined entity” and that it was premature to talk about expanding it. However, there is a “natural affinity” between numerous Indo-Pacific nations and an opportunity for close engagement with partners in South Asia, such as Bangladesh, he added.
“We are not necessarily advocating Quad-plus, but rather a continuation and regularization of Quad with the ultimate goal of understanding how it could be better formalized and then also welcoming cooperation with any Indo-Pacific country that commits to defend a free and open Indo-Pacific, ”he said.
Referring to his visit to Bangladesh, where he met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, Biegun said a major topic of discussion in Dhaka was the fate of more than 8,00,000 Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar after being “subjected to unacceptable violence and brutality”.
The United States hopes to see the “same level of generosity and the same level of clarity in messages to the Myanmar government from other partners or other Indo-Pacific nations, notably China, which has sadly done little to help solve the problem. of the Rohingya “. problem, ”he said.
Biegun added that much more should be expected from China, considering its “proximity to … this humanitarian catastrophe.”
He also said that the outcome of the US presidential election is unlikely to affect the overall relationship with India because the chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties have worked to improve relations with New Delhi. “The real opening started with the president [Bill] Clinton, accelerated under the presidency [George] Bush continued under the presidency [Barack] Obama and his acceleration again with the president [Donald] Trump, ”he said.
The values of the two largest democracies lead them in a similar direction and there are natural convergences of interests, as both countries face many of the same challenges globally, he said. “There are many tendons that unite us and it gives me confidence that this relationship is much larger than that of any political party,” he added.
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