Laying stress on the need for a free and open Indo-Pacific region, foreign Ministers of the QUAD nations have yet again condemned economic and political coercion.
It has also resolved to focus on coronavirus vaccine distribution, countering terrorism and cooperation in maritime security and climate change.
Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar attended the fourth Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Melbourne in his first official visit to Australia. The joint statement by the Ministers is seen as a reference to China, which has progressively hardened its claims to a large part of the South China sea and increasingly sparred with other powers through trade.
The four-day-long trip is seen to be important for the QUAD alliance to send a message to China, with which, each of the member nations has seen economic and political tensions rise over the past few years. It is also important towards further cementing the engagement of the QUAD nations as a serious, permanent bloc in global geopolitics, sources said.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a strategic alliance and forum between India, Australia, Japan, and the United States. This is the third in-person meeting of Quad Foreign Ministers, following Tokyo in October 2020 and the inaugural meeting in New York City in September 2019. Ministers had last met virtually in February 2021.
Jaishankar stressed that the latest meet has proven that bilateral relations between the Quad countries are based on strategic convergences and shared democratic values.
Battling Covid and terrorism
The QUAD leaders also announced that as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, the four countries have delivered more than 505 million vaccine doses, through pledges to donate a cumulative 1.3 billion doses globally. However, most of this has been done by the United States. Interestingly, Australia and the United States have dragged their feet, and initially blocked efforts by India to push for a temporary, global intellectual property rights waiver for COVID vaccines and drugs manufacturers.
Currently being debated at the World Trade Organization for the past 16 months, the proposal would enable easier and faster sharing of COVID-19 vaccines and testing technology among countries. A large number of poor and developing countries are yet to even vaccinate a quarter of their population, while large parts of Europe and North America have reached high vaccination rates.
We will continue to champion ASEAN’s centrality for the region’s stability and prosperity, including by supporting the practical implementation of ASEAN’s Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.
On the sidelines
Jaishankar also attended individual meetings with the Foreign Ministers of all the three other QUAD nations. In his meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, extensive discussions took place on shared, strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific region, a senior source in the know said. "The readout on progress in different domains was positive. Our strategic partnership has deepened so visibly," Jaishankar tweeted post the meeting.
With his Japanese counterpart, Jaishankar discussed the upcoming annual bilateral summit between both nations. The meeting will be the first time Prime Minister Narendra Modi sits down with newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
2022 also marks the 70th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both nations and sources say both sides are keen on upgrading existing bilateral relations. India currently has a 'Special Strategic and Global Partnership' with Japan.
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