Biden expressed his anti-China stance clearly. Said that China is attacking us on every front “Our” Quad-2024 is testing us to deal with the challenge of China and its growing perceived dominance in the Indo-Pacific remained the main theme.
Although it was called the farewell meeting of the Quadrangular Security Dialogue (Quad) summit held in Delaware, USA, but here its member countries took a tough stand against China. It was called a farewell meeting because it was the last participation of US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in it. Both will retire from their posts in the next few months. But while leaving, Biden expressed his anti-China stance bluntly. Said that China is testing “us” on every front. Dealing with the challenge of China and its increasing alleged dominance in the Indo-Pacific remained the main theme in Quad-2024. The joint statement issued said- “We are expressing serious concern over the militarization of the disputed parties and the forceful and threatening tactics in the South China Sea.” Despite this, the Quad leaders refrained from directly naming China.
Even when Biden said in the meeting that ‘China is constantly behaving aggressively and is probing us in the entire region’, it was told that this comment should not have been made publicly. But probably because Biden’s microphone was accidentally left on, it was heard by everyone. On the other hand, Prime Minister Modi felt it necessary to mention that the Quad is not against any particular country. Like before, he tried to describe the Quad as driven by a positive agenda. By the way, Modi said that the Quad supports the “free and open Indo-Pacific” region. He said- “A free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific is our priority. We are not against anyone. We all support a rule-based international order, respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful resolution of all issues.” The meaning of the words is clear. The target is China. The agreement on the joint exercise of the coast guards is also China-centric. Still, it remains a mystery to understand why there is hesitation in naming China directly. Is this also because of the limitations of India’s presence in forums like BRICS and SCO?