Wong says ‘rules are being bent, twisted and broken’ but avoids naming China as key actor

Tokyo: Australia and its Quad partners have condemned Beijing’s aggression in the South China Sea but stopped short of directly mentioning China by name, as the countries’ top diplomats insist the grouping remains critical to regional security even as doubt hangs over its future.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her US, Indian and Japanese counterparts will also fast-track cybersecurity defence measures across the Indo-Pacific to counter China’s systematic use of online warfare, following a Quad ministers meeting in Tokyo on Monday.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s external affairs minister, and Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State.Credit: Bloomberg

But the ministers stopped short of directly mentioning China by name, despite referencing the range of security challenges it poses in the region through maritime aggression, cyber and information warfare.

“We are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and reiterate our strong opposition to any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,” the joint statement said.

The statement called out the “dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels”, a reference to the Chinese coast guard’s aggression in the Taiwan Strait and recent violent clashes with Filipino vessels, which have been publicly condemned by Australia, the US and its allies.

The Quad talks occurred against a backdrop of uncertainty about the future of the grouping, which has not held leader-level discussions this year, diminishing its profile and status, following a scaled-back leaders meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit last year.

The prospect of a second Trump presidency has cast further doubt over the Quad’s future and momentum, given the former president’s scepticism towards alliances and non-interventionist approach to foreign policy.

Ahead of the talks on Monday, Wong announced Australia would spend $18 million on a new undersea digital cable centre designed to provide connectivity to Pacific countries and to fend off advances from China to strengthen its networks in the region. The meeting secured a further agreement to accelerate cyber resilience projects in the Philippines and a Quad cyber boot camp in India.

The focus on cybersecurity comes after Australia secured the support of Japan and South Korea, along with five other countries, last month for a statement accusing China’s Ministry of State Security of being behind a hacking group known as APT40.

Wong used her opening remarks to say “Australia’s belief in the strategic necessity of the Quad has only strengthened” - a sentiment echoed by the United States’ Antony Blinken, Japan’s Yoko Kamikawa, and India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

“Long-standing rules are being bent and twisted or broken. Countries face coercive trade measures, unsustainable lending, political interference and disinformation ... For Australia, this Quad partnership is central to how we respond to the circumstances we face,” Wong said in comments following the meeting.

With the US poised to elect a new president in Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in November, Blinken said he had “great confidence” in the future of the Quad.

Justin Bassi, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the Quad ministers had sidestepped “any truly frank portrayal of the unacceptable behaviour taking place, much less naming China as the key country of concern”.

“While again consistent with previous remarks, as Beijing’s actions increase in malign aggression so too must the transparency of responses to it,” Bassi said.

Sam Roggeveen, director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, said the Quad was bound to underperform as a counter to China because of the divergent interests of the members, namely India, which would not allow it to be an explicitly anti-China body.

“The Quad members are separated by Asia’s vast geography – a vital interest for one is a secondary concern to the others. For instance, it is extremely difficult to imagine a world in which India came to the aid of Japan if Tokyo was in a security crisis with Beijing,” he said.

But he added that it was rare for international institutions or dialogues to be completely abandoned, even as their utility waned.

The Quad leaders summit scheduled to be held in Sydney last year was cancelled at the last minute when US President Joe Biden withdrew because of the US debt ceiling crisis, and presidential elections in the US and India this year have hampered attempts to reconvene the meeting.

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