Quad meet focuses on Indo-Pacific cooperation

What is the News?

Quad has recently held its fourth ministerial meeting in Melbourne, Australia.

What are the key outcomes of the Quad summit?

On terrorism: Group requested countries not to let use their territories to launch terror attacks. They also condemned the terrorist attacks in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks, indicating both attacks linked to the Lashkar e Toiba and Jaish e Mohammad in Pakistan.

On China: The Group discussed China’s actions in the South and East China Sea. It reaffirmed their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. In response to it, China called the Quad mechanism “only a tool to contain China.”

On Myanmar and North Korea: The joint statement called for a return to democracy in Myanmar, and also condemned North Korea’s recent ballistic missile tests.

On vaccines: Quad countries renewed their commitment to the “flagship” Quad Vaccine initiative to deliver at least one billion vaccines by the end of 2022 to Indo-Pacific countries. They also pledged to donate 1.3 billion vaccine doses globally.

On other fields: Quad also discussed the progress on the other fields for cooperation identified during the Quad summit last year, including climate change, critical and emerging technologies, counter-terrorism, etc.

What are the areas of divergence?

On Myanmar situation: While the US supports the sanctions on Myanmar, India is interested in not following the policy of national sanctions. India has concerns over cross border insurgencies, Covid infections, and a humanitarian situation that could arise from food shortages.

On Russia: Apart from India, all the three countries expressed their concerns over the Russia-Ukraine situation.

Source: This post is based on the article “Quad meet focuses on Indo-Pacific cooperation” published in The Hindu on 12th February 2022.