Australia joins new ‘Fab Four’ counter-terror pact
Australia, the US, Japan and India are now in a new counter-terrorism group amid rising threats, while denouncing China’s ‘militarisation’.
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Australia, the US, Japan and India are getting the band back together.
The “Quad” announced the creation of a new counter-terrorism group modelled after The Beatles to combat the rising threat of social media radicalisation.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong joined the so-called “Fab Four” in New Delhi as the Quad addressed the “militarisation” of the Indo-Pacific, a veiled reference to China’s increased aggression in the region.
“This is kind of a band like The Beatles. The members are fixed and they always play together (for over) 10 years,” said Japan’s foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.
“But this is more kind of a soft group, so that even within The Beatles, Paul McCartney can release an album solo.”
Despite insisting they’re a “soft” grouping and taking pains to reiterate it’s not the “hard” military alliance feared by China, the Quad announced the first meeting of a new “Working Group on Counter-Terrorism” that would take place in the United States later this year.
Ms Wong and Mr Hayashi were joined by the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, and India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to establish the new alliance to “explore co-operation among the Quad, and with Indo-Pacific partners, to counter new and emerging forms of terrorism, radicalisation to violence and violent extremism”.
“We note with deep concern that terrorism has become increasingly diffuse, aided by terrorists’ adaptation to, and the use of, emerging and evolving technologies such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and the internet,” they said in a joint-statement.
“Including social media platforms for recruitment and incitement to commit terrorist acts, as well as for the financing, planning, and preparation of terrorist activities.”
Asked about “The China Factor” and its disapproval of the Quad, Mr Hayashi made a rare reference to the Communist regime by name as he reiterated the “Fab Four” wasn’t a military alliance.
“As long as China abides by the law and international norms and acts under international institutional standards this is not a conflicting issue between China and the Quad,” he said.
While the joint statement of the Quad didn’t explicitly name China, it referenced the flouting of that global norms and the UN’s Law of the Sea that Beijing has engaged in across the Indo-Pacific.
“We strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the area,” the statement said.
“We express serious concern at the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities.”
China’s Foreign Ministry criticised the Quad, saying that “co-operation among countries should conform to the trend of the times for peace and development and should not engage in exclusive cliques.”
“We hope the countries concerned will do something that is conducive to enhancing the security and mutual trust of regional countries and to maintaining regional peace and stability,” ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a daily briefing.
It comes after the US announced a new defence strategy that placed AUKUS at the centre of its plans to combat an “increasingly aggressive China”, with Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder welcoming Australia’s joint patrols with the Philippines of the South China Sea.
“We are heartened by the discussion that Manilla is having with two of our closest allies in the region, Australia and Japan,” Mr Ryder said when asked about joint patrols by Australia and the Philippines.
Minister of Defence Richard Marles revealed Australia and the Philippines were in early talks to hold joint patrols after a Chinese coast guard used a military-grade laser to blind the Filipino crews near a disputed shoal.
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