US official says important to work with like-minded partners amid growing Chinese threat

The United States Department of State on Friday, October 23 said that with China's increasingly aggressive behaviour across the Indo-Pacific, it is important to work with like-minded partners such as India. The official said that Secretary Pompeo and India's foreign minister Dr S Jaishankar along with their Japanese and Australian counterparts met in Tokyo for the second ministerial-level meeting, adding that with growing Chinese threat in the region it is important than ever to work with like-minded countries such as India. 

Read: Pompeo Denounces China's Exploitation, Stresses Importance Of Quad Collaboration

A State Department official said that the doors for QUAD are always open for other countries that want to participate in discussions that the US, India, Japan, and Australia take up every now and then. The official, while speaking at the Washington Foreign Press Centre, clarified that the QUAD is not an alliance as the countries involved do not have any reciprocal obligation towards each other. "There's nothing about the QUAD that is an alliance. It doesn't have, it is not formalised. There's no reciprocal obligation among the countries that are involved. It's not an organisation that solicits memberships," the official said. 

Read: China Accuses Mike Pompeo Of 'maliciously' Creating Political Confrontation

QUAD meeting

The four foreign ministers met in Tokyo on October 6 to discuss the Chinese threat across the Indo-Pacific, from the Himalayan border to the South China Sea, where Beijing's aggressive behaviour is causing trouble and disruption. The ministers discussed the ways to strengthen the cooperation between the four QUAD nations in order to keep the Indo-pacific free and open for all. The four nations will participate in the Malabar 2020 exercise that is scheduled to take place later this year in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. 

Read: EAM S Jaishankar Meets Australian Counterpart Marise Payne On QUAD 2020 Sidelines

The Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) was set up in 2007 by the then US Vice-President Dick Cheney, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Australian PM John Howard and Japanese PM Sinzo Abe. However, the grouping had died down due to the withdrawal of Australia. But in 2017 it was reestablished again following negotiations between the US, India, Japan, and Australia. The grouping is counter to China's growing military ambitions in the Indo-pacific region.

Read: Exercise Malabar 2020: Australia Accepts India's Invitation Amid Tensions With China