China claims almost the entire area of the disputed South China Sea. It has disputes in the region with several other countries including Taiwan, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. China has also built several artificial islands and military bases in the South China Sea.
The leaders of the Quad countries will meet face-to-face for the third time in Sydney, Australia, next month. The White House gave this information on Tuesday. White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said that the purpose of this meeting is to deepen mutual cooperation on issues related to important and emerging technologies, high-quality infrastructure, global health, climate change and the strategically important Indo-Pacific region. Is. The Quad is a quadrilateral security dialogue group comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia. This will be the first time that Australia will host the leaders of the Quad countries.
Jean-Pierre said US President Joe Biden will attend the Quad leaders’ meeting to be hosted by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on May 24 in Sydney. Prime Minister of Japan Kishida Fumio, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi will also participate in this summit. Albanese attended the Quad conference held in the Japanese capital Tokyo, hours after being sworn in as Australia’s prime minister last year. Jean-Pierre said the Quad leaders will discuss how they will deal with critical and emerging technologies, high-quality infrastructure, global health, climate change, maritime domain awareness and other related issues from the strategically important Indo-Pacific region. How can we deepen mutual cooperation?
President Biden will arrive in Australia after attending the G-7 leaders’ summit to be held in Hiroshima, Japan from May 19 to 21. India, the US and several other world powers have been talking for long about the need to ensure an independent, free and prosperous Indo-Pacific region in the wake of China’s growing military assertiveness in the region.
The US, Australia, India and Japan gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad in 2017 to develop a new strategy to keep vital sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free from any influence.
