Hiroshima, Japan

The Quad group leaders – Australia, India, Japan and the United States – took a thinly veiled swipe at China's behaviour at their meeting in Hiroshima on Saturday, on the sidelines of the G7 Summit.

United States President Joe Biden and the three other leaders of the Quad group did not take China's name, however, the South Asian nation emerged as a clear target in the language of their joint statement which called for “peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain”.

“We strongly oppose destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,” the statement added.

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The group's diplomatic language further referred to the economic tactics of China which the nation allegedly uses to gain leverage over poor nations. The Quad group also attacked China's military expansion in the Pacific.

“We express serious concern at the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coastguard and maritime militia vessels, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities,” the statement stated, as it clearly referred to the construction of bases by China on former offshore reefs and the harassment faced by non-Chinese ships in the disputed waters.

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Quad reiterates support for improving infrastructure across Asia-Pacific

The meeting was held by Quad leaders while they had gathered in Hiroshima for the G7 Summit.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was scheduled to host Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Joe Biden in Sydney next week.

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However, the meeting was cancelled after Biden changed his schedule citing his need to return to Washington from Japan on Sunday for negotiating the US debt ceiling with Republican opponents.

The group, in their statement, emphasised on the Quad’s support for improvements in infrastructure across the vast Asia-Pacific region while stating, in what appeared as another alleged dig at China, that they wished to assist such investments but would “not impose unsustainable debt burdens” on the recipients of assistance.

The Quad leaders highlighted various projects and called the “urgent need to support quality undersea cable networks in the Indo-Pacific, which are key to global growth and prosperity”.

The leaders announced a partnership which is aimed at drawing on the expertise of their countries in the specialist maritime cable sector.

The leaders stated they were “deeply concerned” by repression in Myanmar, and further condemned “North Korea’s destabilising ballistic missile launches and pursuit of nuclear weapons in violation of multiple UN security council resolutions”.

PM Modi’s ‘not an era of war’ comment endorsed in joint statement 

Quad's statement mentioned ‘not an era of war’ comment which was made by Indian Prime Minister Modi when he had met Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in September 2022.

The joint statement stated, “In this context, today we express our deep concern over the war raging in Ukraine and mourn its terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences. We recognise its serious impacts on the global economic system including on food, fuel and energy security and critical supply chains. We will continue to render humanitarian assistance to Ukraine for its recovery. Conscious that ours must not be an era of war, we remain committed to dialogue and diplomacy."

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