Quad closes ranks in the face of rising Chinese power in Asia-Pacific

US President Joe Biden's tour came to an end on Tuesday after a last-ditch effort to shore up alliances in the region and consolidate a counterweight to Chinese power. To this end, the members of the Quadruple Security Dialogue Alliance (Quad) - Anthony Albanese, Naredra Modi, Fumio Kishida and Joe Biden, the Australian prime minister, his Indian and Japanese counterparts, and the US president, respectively - met for the second time in person in the Japanese capital of Tokyo.

Beijing's recent diplomatic, economic and military moves in the Asia-Pacific region were the main focus of the meeting. Recent months have witnessed an increase in Chinese military activities in the disputed areas of the East and South China Seas, as well as the strengthening of the Asian giant's relations with the Solomon Islands. 

In fact, the signing of a security agreement, negotiated in secret between Beijing and the Solomon Islands - whose main partner before this was Australia - and announced last April, was precisely the starting signal for the Sino-US race to increase its influence in strategic maritime territories. 

In this sense, one of the measures agreed by the four Quad powers has been the launch of a maritime surveillance project to monitor any Chinese movement in the region. In addition, the coalition also announced a plan that, with a budget of at least $50 billion, will finance infrastructure projects and investments over the next five years. 

The joint communiqué that resulted from the meeting condemned, without directly mentioning Beijing, "the militarisation of disputed areas, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militias, and efforts to hinder other countries' activities to exploit resources at sea". "This is about democracies versus autocracies," Biden stressed, "and we have to make sure that we can deliver". 

Among the other issues addressed was the condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on which the Indian leader avoided commenting, as New Delhi officially maintains a position of neutrality in the conflict. North Korea's arms development, the territorial dispute with Moscow over the Kuril Islands and the Chinese threat against Taiwan also received much of the attention during the Quad summit. 

In relation to the latter, Joe Biden's statements on the US defence of Taiwan in the event of Chinese aggression suggested that the traditional US "strategic ambiguity" might have come to an end. "The policy doesn't change at all," the US leader asserted.

The Asia-Pacific region has become a key issue in Washington and Beijing's disagreements in recent years. While the United States aims to rebuild relations weakened by Donald Trump's term in office and to provide a counterweight to the Asian giant's growing power in the region, China may be working on a "long-term strategy". In this sense, the Quad coalition, which was born in the mid-2000s, is now revitalising its efforts to confront an increasingly hostile Chinese foreign policy, while Beijing, for its part, accuses the group of trying to become a "mini-NATO". 

Coinciding with the Quad meeting, several Chinese and Russian aircraft have been spotted while on joint flights. "Two Chinese bombers joined two Russian bombers in the China Sea, and they all made a joint flight to the East China Sea, shared from the East China Sea to the Pacific Ocean," Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi explained of what he called a "provocation". 

"We express, through diplomatic channels, our deep concern from the perspective of the security of our country and the region (...). While the international community is responding to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the very similar action of China in cooperation with Russia is also a cause for concern. This cannot be tolerated,' Kishi added.

Americas Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.