Joe Biden invites leaders of Australia, India and Japan to White House for Quad summit next week

Name: After Quad summit discusses China threat, Beijing says ‘cliques’ drive wedge between countries
Uploaded: 2021-09-13T21:09:52.000Z
Duration: 1 min 19 s
Description: After Quad summit discusses China threat, Beijing says ‘cliques’ drive wedge between countries

It will be the first in-person meeting for Biden, Australia’s Scott Morrison, India’s Narendra Modi and Yoshihide Suga of Japan

The four met virtually in March, when they discussed China’s military build-up in the Asia-Pacific

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US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) listen during a virtual Quad meeting with leaders of Japan, Australia and India on March 12. The countries’ four leaders will meet at the White House on September 24. Photo: EPA/Bloomberg

Robert Delaneyin Washington

Published: 5:09am, 14 Sep 2021Updated: 6:34am, 14 Sep 2021

US President Joe Biden will host the leaders of the Quad alliance, which agreed earlier this year to counter China’s military build-up in the Asia-Pacific, at the White House next week as he seeks to deepen the group’s cooperation.

The first in-person meeting of the Quad’s leaders – Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga – will take place on September 24, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced on Monday.

“The Biden-Harris administration has made elevating the Quad a priority, as seen through the first-ever Quad leaders-level engagement in March, which was virtual, and now this summit, which will be in-person,” Psaki said.

“The Quad leaders will be focused on deepening our ties and advancing practical cooperation on areas such as combating Covid-19, addressing the climate crisis, partnering on emerging technologies and cyberspace, and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific,” she added.

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After Quad summit discusses China threat, Beijing says ‘cliques’ drive wedge between countries

Tensions between Washington and Beijing in the western Pacific region that Psaki referenced – where China has laid claims of sovereignty that Washington has rejected – have escalated.

In a maritime conference last week, US Coast Guard and Navy officials pledged to bolster their presence in the area and dismissed a new Chinese rule requiring all foreign ships entering what it claims as the South China Sea to register ship and cargo information with Chinese maritime authorities.

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