Ahead of Manila meet, US denies Quad faltering under Trump
NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Quad leaders' summit in Manila, a senior US official dismissed as fake news a media report that said the informal strategic and diplomatic partnership involving Australia, India, Japan and the US was withering under the Donald Trump administration.
Quad leaders will meet in the Philippines capital on Tuesday after a gap of two years, looking to boost cooperation in maritime security, critical and emerging technologies, climate, health and economic security, along with infrastructure and connectivity.
Assistant secretary of state Dylan Johnson described as an utterly ridiculous take a report by Politico that quoted an anonymous Washington-based Asian diplomat to say that Quad was on life support.
Working to formalise Quad summit at Asean: Johnson"Secretary Rubio has formally met with the Quad foreign ministers five times in the past two years - with three meetings in the past six months. The Secretary's first official call in office was to the Quad. We have regular monthly Quad sherpa calls and meetings. And we are working to formalise a Quad Leaders Summit at Asean next week. Fake News!" said Johnson, responding to the article.
The leaders' summit in Manila will also reaffirm commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is governed by the rule of law, UN Charter, sovereignty and territorial integrity, while strongly opposing unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion in the East and South China Sea. The meeting takes place on the margins of the Asean summit, amid renewed China-Philippines hostilities because of overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
With India unable to host the summit for the past two years, the Politico article though touched upon concerns in not just India but also Japan and Australia that Quad may have become a casualty of the India-US trade dispute and also Trump's China outreach.
While the foreign ministers' meeting has taken place 5 times since the return of Trump, it's the leaders' summit that was thought to have been derailed with Trump apparently reluctant to travel to India for Quad. The summit is finally happening but in a non-Quad country and on the margins of a multilateral event. Quad had been upgraded to the summit level in 2021.
Quad leaders will meet in the Philippines capital on Tuesday after a gap of two years, looking to boost cooperation in maritime security, critical and emerging technologies, climate, health and economic security, along with infrastructure and connectivity.
Assistant secretary of state Dylan Johnson described as an utterly ridiculous take a report by Politico that quoted an anonymous Washington-based Asian diplomat to say that Quad was on life support.
Working to formalise Quad summit at Asean: Johnson"Secretary Rubio has formally met with the Quad foreign ministers five times in the past two years - with three meetings in the past six months. The Secretary's first official call in office was to the Quad. We have regular monthly Quad sherpa calls and meetings. And we are working to formalise a Quad Leaders Summit at Asean next week. Fake News!" said Johnson, responding to the article.
The leaders' summit in Manila will also reaffirm commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is governed by the rule of law, UN Charter, sovereignty and territorial integrity, while strongly opposing unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion in the East and South China Sea. The meeting takes place on the margins of the Asean summit, amid renewed China-Philippines hostilities because of overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
With India unable to host the summit for the past two years, the Politico article though touched upon concerns in not just India but also Japan and Australia that Quad may have become a casualty of the India-US trade dispute and also Trump's China outreach.
While the foreign ministers' meeting has taken place 5 times since the return of Trump, it's the leaders' summit that was thought to have been derailed with Trump apparently reluctant to travel to India for Quad. The summit is finally happening but in a non-Quad country and on the margins of a multilateral event. Quad had been upgraded to the summit level in 2021.
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