NEW DELHI: Held against the backdrop of an increasingly assertive China, the fourth Quad foreign ministers’ meeting in Melbourne Friday saw Australia, Japan, India and the United States reaffirm commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific with focus on expeditious delivery of vaccines, maritime rules-based order, humanitarian assistance, counter-terrorism efforts and to counter disinformation.
Possibly for the first time, a Quad joint statement, issued after the meeting, specificallymentioned the Mumbai and Pathankot attacks while condemning terrorism and calling upon countries to eliminate terrorists safe havens. This was also the first time that a joint statement was issued after a meeting of the Quad foreign ministers.
There were differences over Ukraine with India expectedly reluctant to take any extreme position on the issue, given its close ties with Russia. The joint statement made no mention of the crisis even though concerns were expressed on the Russian military build-up in the meeting. Secretary of state Antony Blinken later warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could begin any moment. When asked about India’s position, foreign minister S Jaishankar said India had already spoken on the issue at the UNSC. As it had said in the Security Council, India wants legitimate security concerns of “all countries’’ to be addressed.
“This meeting is focused on the Indo-Pacific, so I think you should figure out the geography there. And where we stand, our position on Ukraine, we have laid it out in public at the United Nations Security Council,’’ he said in response.
On China-Russia cooperation and what Quad was doing to counter it, Jaishankar said it was “for something, not against somebody’’. The Quad statement called for protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all regional countries.
According to the joint statement, the foreign ministers denounced the use of terrorist proxies for cross-border terrorism and urged countries to work together to eliminate terrorist safe havens, disrupt terrorist networks and the infrastructure and financial channels, which sustain them, and to halt cross-border movement of terrorists.
“In this context, we call on all countries to ensure that territory under their control is not used to launch terror attacks and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks. We reiterate our condemnation of terrorist attacks in India, including 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks,’’ added the statement.
On Afghanistan, they reaffirmed the UNSC Resolution 2593, passed under India’s presidency last year, that Afghan territory should not be used to threaten or attack any country, shelter or train terrorists, or plan or finance terrorist acts, with “such ungoverned spaces being a direct threat to the safety and security of the Indo-Pacific’’.
Discussions on Chinese activities in the region saw the Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi raising “serious concerns’’ over unilateral attempts to change the status quo in South and East China Seas. The foreign ministers underlined the need for all to adhere to international law, particularly UNCLOS, to deal with challenges to “maritime rules-based order”.
While Yoshimasa said that there was a discussion also on Taiwan, with each country referring to its “basic position’’, there was no direct mention of this in the joint statement.
“We are determined to deepen engagement with regional partners, including through capacity-building and technical assistance, to strengthen maritime domain awareness; protect their ability to develop offshore resources, consistent with UNCLOS; ensure freedom of navigation and overflight; combat challenges, such as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; and promote the safety and security of sea lines of communication,’’ said the joint statement.
The ministers also reaffirmed commitment to upholding and strengthening the rules-based multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organisation at its core, saying they opposed coercive economic policies and practices that ran counter to this system.
Possibly for the first time, a Quad joint statement, issued after the meeting, specificallymentioned the Mumbai and Pathankot attacks while condemning terrorism and calling upon countries to eliminate terrorists safe havens. This was also the first time that a joint statement was issued after a meeting of the Quad foreign ministers.
There were differences over Ukraine with India expectedly reluctant to take any extreme position on the issue, given its close ties with Russia. The joint statement made no mention of the crisis even though concerns were expressed on the Russian military build-up in the meeting. Secretary of state Antony Blinken later warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could begin any moment. When asked about India’s position, foreign minister S Jaishankar said India had already spoken on the issue at the UNSC. As it had said in the Security Council, India wants legitimate security concerns of “all countries’’ to be addressed.
“This meeting is focused on the Indo-Pacific, so I think you should figure out the geography there. And where we stand, our position on Ukraine, we have laid it out in public at the United Nations Security Council,’’ he said in response.
On China-Russia cooperation and what Quad was doing to counter it, Jaishankar said it was “for something, not against somebody’’. The Quad statement called for protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all regional countries.
According to the joint statement, the foreign ministers denounced the use of terrorist proxies for cross-border terrorism and urged countries to work together to eliminate terrorist safe havens, disrupt terrorist networks and the infrastructure and financial channels, which sustain them, and to halt cross-border movement of terrorists.
“In this context, we call on all countries to ensure that territory under their control is not used to launch terror attacks and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks. We reiterate our condemnation of terrorist attacks in India, including 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks,’’ added the statement.
On Afghanistan, they reaffirmed the UNSC Resolution 2593, passed under India’s presidency last year, that Afghan territory should not be used to threaten or attack any country, shelter or train terrorists, or plan or finance terrorist acts, with “such ungoverned spaces being a direct threat to the safety and security of the Indo-Pacific’’.
Discussions on Chinese activities in the region saw the Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi raising “serious concerns’’ over unilateral attempts to change the status quo in South and East China Seas. The foreign ministers underlined the need for all to adhere to international law, particularly UNCLOS, to deal with challenges to “maritime rules-based order”.
While Yoshimasa said that there was a discussion also on Taiwan, with each country referring to its “basic position’’, there was no direct mention of this in the joint statement.
“We are determined to deepen engagement with regional partners, including through capacity-building and technical assistance, to strengthen maritime domain awareness; protect their ability to develop offshore resources, consistent with UNCLOS; ensure freedom of navigation and overflight; combat challenges, such as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; and promote the safety and security of sea lines of communication,’’ said the joint statement.
The ministers also reaffirmed commitment to upholding and strengthening the rules-based multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organisation at its core, saying they opposed coercive economic policies and practices that ran counter to this system.