Beijing Worried of QUAD Alliance
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar called on Mr Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister prior to the QUAD conference in Melbourne. The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne accompanied Jaishankar for the meet with the PM.
Jaishankar said that the Quad countries had very good bilateral relations because of the shared Democratic values. Their similar strategic perceptions have also helped the QUAD in having a vibrant and substantial framework.
The QUAD ministers carried out a joint Press briefing after the talks. Minister Payne said the Quad foreign ministers have reaffirmed their support to principles of openness, protection of national sovereignty and observance of rules and fair play, in remarks seen as a message to China.
Naturally this has worried China a lot because, Quad even when not a Defence Alliance against China, has checked its free run in the Indo Pacific. So China has started terming the Quad alliance between as a “tool” to contain China’s rise. Beijing said on Friday that the grouping is a “deliberate move” to stoke confrontation and it is doomed to fail.
China is dreaming that being a strong power it can go “ rampaging “ in the Indo Pacific Region. It already has territorial disputes with many countries in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it.
Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea. It is also involved in a maritime dispute with Japan over the East China Sea. So now it is worried that Quad alliance will not permit a free run to its ambitions.
In November 2017, the US, Australia, India and Japan gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence, amid China’s growing military presence in the strategic region.
“China believes that the Quad mechanism is only a tool to contain China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here while responding to a question that Quad foreign ministers opened their talks in Melbourne.
As per Zhao, Quad is a deliberate move to stoke confrontation and undermine international solidarity and cooperation. He stressed that the Cold War was long gone and any attempt to create an alliance to contain China will not be popular and such moves were doomed to fail. This indicates its mortal worry.
“Relevant countries should abandon the outdated Cold War mentality to correct their wrong practices of advancing bloc confrontation and geopolitical rivalry. Instead, they should play a constative role to promote peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region,” he said.
“We hope the US and other countries concerned will grasp the trend of the times, adopt a proper mind-set and discard the Cold War mentality,” he said.
The foreign ministers of the Quad grouping on Friday held extensive talks in Melbourne amid escalating tension between Russia and NATO countries over Ukraine, the Afghan crisis and increasing concerns over China’s “coercion” in the Indo-Pacific region.
