QUAD meet with leaders of US, India, Japan, Australia 'went very well,' says Joe Biden

United States President Joe Biden on March 14 said that the first virtual summit of Quad leaders involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, “went very well.” Biden held the first Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) leaders summit on March 12 where the leaders pledged to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region and to cooperate on maritime, cyber as well as economic security and the issues that are essential for all four democracies especially in the face of challenges posed by China. 

"It went very well. Everybody seemed to like it a great deal," Biden told reporters on Sunday when asked about the meeting on his return to the White House from a weekend stay at his home in Delaware.

Even a day after the Quad leaders summit, all four world leaders - Biden, PM Modi, Suga and Morrison wrote a joint Op-Ed on March 13 and termed their partnership a “spark of hope to light the path ahead” amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The jointly-written piece said, “The COVID-19 pandemic is among the greatest risks to health and economic stability in recent history, and we must work in partnership to stop it in its tracks. Now, we are launching an ambitious effort to help end Covid-19. Together, we pledge to expand and accelerate production in India of safe, accessible, and effective vaccines.” PM Modi took to Twitter on Sunday and shared the joint Op-Ed published by The Washington Post.

‘Quad leaders to meet in-person this year’

United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has also informed that the leaders of ‘Quad’ nations in India, Australia, Japan, and the United States will meet in-person later this year. Brainchild of then Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) was launched in 2007 with an aim to convene partners to balance rising China. As per reports, while India and Australia had initially been cautious over antagonizing China, the Quad format, over the years has not only expanded but the relations with Beijing of both nations have deteriorated over a range of issues.

"The four leaders did discuss the challenge posed by China and they made clear that none of them had any allusions about China. Today was not fundamentally about China--much of the focus was on pressing global crises," Sullivan said as reported ANI.

"The leaders also agreed that they would meet in person by the end of the year and they launched a set of working groups including a technology group that would help set standards in key technologies like 5G... The Quad is a critical part of the architecture of the Indo-Pacific and today's summit also kicks off an intensive stretch of diplomacy in the region, " he added.