Washington DC [US], September 23: The United States, Japan, Australia and India will increase cooperation on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region, in the face of China's growing influence in area.
US President Joe Biden hosted prime ministers Narendra Modi of India, Anthony Albanese of Australia and Fumio Kishida of Japan at his home on Saturday. The countries make up the so-called Quad Alliance which aims to push back China's influence in the region.
"We continue to express our serious concern about the militarization of disputed features, and coercive and intimidating manoeuvrers in the South China Sea," a statement from the leaders said.
They condemned the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels and the increasing use of dangerous manoeuvrers avoiding any direct mention of Beijing.
China, which claims almost the entire South China Sea, has taken increasingly aggressive actions in the area in recent years. It has ignored a 2016 ruling by an international arbitration court that it has no legal or historical basis for its expansive claims.
The quad leaders announced an expansion to an Indo-Pacific maritime surveillance initiative, planned joint coast guard operations and increased military logistics cooperation.
The Indo-Pacific roughly stretches from the Indian Ocean to the northern Pacific Ocean, thus covering most of Asia and extending to the US west coast.
"We seek a region where no country dominates and no country is dominated-one where all countries are free from coercion, and can exercise their agency to determine their futures," the leaders said.
The Quad, formally known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, was initially launched in 2007 but it quickly dissolved amid protests from China. The alliance was revived in 2017, and when Biden took office in 2021, he pushed to elevate it as the US sought to curb China's influence in the Asia Pacific.
The group held its first leaders' summit virtually in 2021, and a year later, Biden hosted the Australian, Indian and Japanese heads of state at the White House.Last year, the Quad met in Hiroshima, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's hometown.
Source: Qatar Tribune