As the aftershocks from last week’s trilateral defence pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) reverberate, the leaders of the Quad will conduct their first ever face-to-face meeting in Washington on Friday (September 24) only four years after the group’s re-emergence.

Beijing has begun a diplomatic offensive on two fronts. The Chinese foreign ministry has slammed the formation of AUKUS as having “undermined regional peace and stability” and “intensified the arms race”, while the state-owned Global Times has taken a different tack, casting it as a demonstration of Washington’s “special treatment” of Australia, elevating it above India and Japan, thereby dealing both a “psychological blow”.