Scott Morrison heralds ‘new dawn’ as Quad leaders pledge 1b vaccines

Washington: Scott Morrison has declared the arrival of a “new dawn” in Australia’s region, as the Prime Minister and his US, Indian and Japanese counterparts pledged to distribute one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to developing countries in the Asia-Pacific.

Morrison was speaking at the first-ever joint leaders meeting of the Quad, a strategic dialogue between the four countries that the Biden administration views as central to its efforts to counter China’s growing dominance in Asia.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison participates in the inaugural Quad leaders’ meeting.Credit: AAP Pool

“It is the Indo-Pacific that will now shape the destiny of our world in the 21st Century,” Morrison said at the beginning of the joint meeting, held online in the early hours of Saturday (AEDT).

“As we begin a new day here in Australia it’s not yet dawn, but we join together as Quad leaders of nations to welcome what I think will be a new dawn in the Indo-Pacific through our gathering.”

The most significant outcome of the summit was an announcement, foreshadowed in The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age last week, to massively expand the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to low and middle-income countries in the Asia-Pacific.

Under the “vaccine diplomacy” push, Australia will contribute an extra $100 million for the roll-out of vaccines in south-east Asia, on top of funding already announced to help vaccinate the citizens of nine Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste.

Scott Morrison said the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines would be boosted to low and middle-income countries in the Asia-Pacific.Credit: AAP Pool

Morrison said the commitment showed Australia was willing to do its “share of the heavy lifting to lighten the burden for us all”.

US President Joe Biden said the four leaders were “renewing our commitment to ensure that our region is governed by international law, committed to upholding universal values, and free from coercion”.

“The Quad is going to be a vital arena for co-operation in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan described the vaccine pledge as a “massive joint commitment” at a White House briefing following the meeting.

“Make no mistake, today is a big day for American diplomacy,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said that Biden had deliberately chosen the Quad as his first multilateral meeting since becoming President.

“It reflects his view that we have to rally democratic allies and partners in common cause and his belief in the centrality of the Indo-Pacific to the national security of the United States,” Sullivan said.

He said the leaders had discussed China and had “no illusions” about the challenges posed by its rise, while stressing that the meeting was not fundamentally about China.

The Chinese regime has been extremely sensitive about the Quad, describing it as an anti-China grouping designed to advance America’s military interests in the region.

“The Quad is not a military alliance or a ‘new NATO’ despite some of the propaganda out there,” Sullivan said.

Morrison did not mention China directly in his opening remarks, but noted that he and his counterparts were “four leaders of great liberal democracies”.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the leaders’ meeting showed the Quad had “come of age” and “will now remain an important pillar of stability in the region”.

Patrick Cronin, the Asia-Pacific security chair at the Hudson Institute, said the need to push back on China’s “more pernicious behaviour” was clearly the driving force behind the Quad’s elevation.

“Australia has been on the sharp end of the stick when it comes to China and this shows you will not be left hanging on your own,” he said.

Signalling the expansion of the Quad’s mission beyond its original military focus, the four countries announced they will form joint working groups on climate and emerging technologies, as well as vaccines.

The four leaders also pledged to hold an in-person meeting by the end of the year.

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