After India publicly confirmed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sydney for a Quad summit on May 24, US President Joe Biden withdrew, causing Australia to cancel the meeting. Modi, Biden, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will, however, attend the G7 conference in Hiroshima, Japan, which will be hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida from Friday through Sunday.
What’s Next?
With all four Quad presidents travelling to Hiroshima, officials from the four countries were considering holding an informal discussion on the margins of the G7 conference, Australian PM Albanese said early Wednesday. Biden was set to travel to Japan, Australia, and Papua New Guinea. However, the White House said late Tuesday that Obama would return to Washington DC following the G7 summit to continue conversations with leaders of the US Congress on measures to avoid a financial default.
The notification by the US came just hours after India formally announced Modi’s visits. On Tuesday evening, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a press release announcing that the Prime Minister would visit Japan and Australia for the G7 and Quad summits, respectively, as well as Papua New Guinea for a Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) conclave between May 19 and 24.
The manner in which the United States withdrew from the Quad Summit has irritated New Delhi, but it has refrained from publicly expressing its unhappiness, ostensibly to avoid straining bilateral ties ahead of Modi’s travel to Washington DC for a meeting with Biden. Biden is also slated to visit India for Modi’s G20 conference on September 9 and 10.”President Biden’s decision meant that you couldn’t have a Quad Leaders Meeting when only three of the four were present,” Albanese told ABC Radio. Albanese also expressed his desire to meet Modi during his next bilateral visit to Australia.
What Is QUAD?
Known as the ‘Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), the QUAD is an informal strategic forum comprising four nations, namely: the USA, India, Australia, and Japan. One of the Primary Objectives of the Quad is to work for a free, open, prosperous, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. The principle of QUAD is to keep the strategic sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any military or political influence. To secure a rules-based global order, freedom of navigation, and a liberal trading system. Exchange views on contemporary global issues such as critical connectivity and infrastructure, cyber security, maritime security, disaster relief, climate change, and education.
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