Rare Quad meet in Beijing, attended by Indian envoy, sends message to China amid Taiwan tensions

Image posted on X by US Ambassador to China David Perdue

• Quad ambassadors held a rare public meeting in Beijing amid China-Taiwan tensions.
• US envoy called Quad a force for good for a free and open Indo-Pacific region
• Meeting signals message to China, which sees Quad as a challenge to its dominance.

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In what can be interpreted as a message for China, the ambassadors of the Quad nations — India, US, Australia and Japan — held a rare public meeting in Beijing on Tuesday.

In a post on X, American Ambassador to China, David Perdue said that the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is a "force for good" in maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

The post was accompanied by a picture of the four ambassadors at the US Embassy in Beijing.

"It is a pleasure to meet with the ambassadors of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue countries in Beijing. The relations among the four countries—the United States, Australia, India, and Japan—continue to be stable and strong," he added. Indian Ambassador to Beijing Pradeep Kumar Rawat was also part of the meeting.

The meeting comes at a time amid escalating tensions with the China holding large-scale military exercises around Taiwan in an intimidation move. China's aggressive posture on Taiwan also triggered tensions with Japan with prime minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting earlier this month that Tokyo could respond with its own self-defence force if Beijing attacked Taiwan.

Amid all this, the meeting of the Quad countries assumes significance since China views the group as a US-backed effort to counter its dominance in the Indo-Pacific region. Beijing has not yet reacted to the meeting.

China has historically opposed Quad meetings, calling them an attempt to target its interests. It has also labeled the group an “exclusionary clique”. "China believes that cooperation between countries should not target any third party. Engaging in group politics and bloc confrontation will not bring lasting peace and security, and is not conducive to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and the world as a whole," China said after the Quad meeting in January.

While the Quad meetings in Beijing are not new, the timing of Tuesday's huddle stood out. According to a report in the South China Morning Post, the meeting appeared to be an attempt to project unity and deterrence at a time when China is conducting drills around Taiwan.

However, according to the report, some experts also questioned the bloc's struggle for relevance and delays in holding planned meetings at a time when the Trump administration is shifting its priorities vis-a-vis China.