‘Free from coercion’: Quad countries to counter China’s disinformation campaigns and trade strikes

Australia, the United States, India and Japan will ramp up initiatives to counter China’s disinformation campaigns and coercive economic measures as the four countries look to keep the focus on Asia amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

As American intelligence sources accused Russia of preparing for a potential large-scale invasion of Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared for his first visit to Australia for this week’s fourth foreign ministers’ meeting of the Quad grouping.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne will meet her three counterparts on Friday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

China has been accused by Australia and the US of ramping up its disinformation campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the use of coercive economic measures over the past few years, including imposing more than $20 billion of trade strikes against Australia.

Australian Foreign Minister Payne said she looked forward to hosting the Quad meeting in Melbourne on Friday and suggested a key focus would be to help countries in the region fend off coercion from other nations.

“We are a vital network of liberal democracies committed to practical co-operation, including to support a regional recovery and to ensure all Indo-Pacific nations, large and small, are able to make their own strategic decisions, free from coercion,” she said.

The Quad, re-established in 2017, has become a key body to address the security challenges facing the region in the face of a rising and more aggressive China.

China has described the formation of the Quad as an attempt at “containment of China”.

Along with a focus on distributing more vaccines to the region, the four foreign ministers will discuss how to better counter disinformation campaigns from countries such as China and North Korea. They will also discuss ways to boost humanitarian disaster relief in the region following the recent volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga.

Australia is also expected to raise the importance of not letting the Ukraine crisis distract from the Quad’s priorities in the Indo-Pacific, including Beijing’s militarisation of the South China Sea and threats against Taiwan.

The Australian government is said to be pleased that Mr Blinken went ahead with the visit despite the Ukraine crisis occupying a lot of the Biden administration’s attention.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday Australia was “highly concerned” about the deteriorating situation in Ukraine.

“Any breach of Ukraine’s sovereign territory is not a mark of peace,” Mr Morrison said.

Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, said Mr Blinken’s decision to proceed with his trip to Australia and Fiji sent an important message that the US was staying committed to the Quad and the Indo-Pacific amid the Ukraine crisis.

“It’s impressive how much the four countries are maintaining the momentum of high-level meetings,” he said. “It’s a rapidly growing security architecture and that’s a long way from the dismissive attitude China had towards the Quad just a few years ago.”

But Professor Medcalf said there were still questions about how focused the US would be on practical commitments to the Quad and the Indo-Pacific if tensions between Ukraine and Russia worsened.

The Quad meeting comes after China and Russia have presented a united front in recent days, saying in a joint statement they “oppose further enlargement of NATO” and called the organisation to “abandon its ideologized Cold War approaches”.

Professor Medcalf said there was scope for the Quad to stand up against the growing alliance between Russia and China, but that would depend on whether India was prepared to upset Moscow.

Senator Payne will also host Lithuanian Foreign Minister Landsbergis in Canberra this week, where they will discuss “shared interests including building resilience to coercion and promoting liberal democratic principles in our respective regions”.

“These significant meetings further demonstrate the Morrison government’s efforts to actively shape our region along with our partners in a way that strengthens the liberal international order and promotes security and prosperity,” Senator Payne said.

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