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Anti-China grouping meets before Modi-Trump summit

NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding plans to hold an ice-breaking Sino-India summit in October, India on Friday held a meeting with US, Japan and Australia that intends to check the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific.

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Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 31

Notwithstanding plans to hold an ice-breaking Sino-India summit in October, India on Friday held a meeting with US, Japan and Australia that intends to check the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific.

“The participants reiterated their strong support for ASEAN-centrality and ASEAN-led mechanisms in the regional architecture for the Indo-Pacific and in this regard welcomed the initiative of ASEAN towards a common vision for the Indo-Pacific’’ said release from the Ministry of External Affairs on the fourth meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between the US, India, Australia and Japan.

The MEA release refrains from mentioning an earlier formulation—“freedom of navigation and overflight and respect for international law”—which was seen as directed against China. The formulation “centrality of ASEAN’’ is seen as less hostile towards China though there is no ASEAN regional structure for the Asia Pacific. But a Japanese press release on the meeting mentioned this aspect as also the desire to “work with like-minded partners and allies” indicating that the Quad is looking at joining hands with other countries that share similar concerns about the Asia-Pacific.

The meeting was held a fortnight after the Australian Navy alleged that an informal Chinese militia directed laser lights at its helicopter pilots while they were holding exercises in the hotly contested South China Sea.

More significantly, the Quad meeting at the level of senior diplomats took place a month before the G-20 summit in Osaka where all its heads of government—Donald Trump, Narendra Modi, Abe Shinzo and Scott Morrison—will be present.

The process has accelerated after the election of Trump and Modi while Morrison and Abe are its enthusiastic supporters. Quad’s all four meetings have so far been held on ‘neutral’ territory. The first meeting after a decade-long hiatus was held in late 2017 in Manila. The second consultative meeting was held in mid-2018 in Singapore and the third in November last year. This suggests that Quad consultations are on the way to becoming a bi-annual affair.

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