Quad leaders looking ‘to muscle up to Beijing’

Australia, the US, Japan and India look to work together to counter growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the start of their bilateral meeting in November last year. Picture: AFP

Scott Morrison hopes to attend the first leaders’ meeting of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue partners in coming months, as Australia, the US, Japan and India look to work together to counter growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

The Australian has learned the Morrison government is working behind the scenes with Quad partners to arrange the leaders’ meeting, at the urging of new US President Joe Biden.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia was keen on increasing Quad engagement “including at leaders’ level”.

“I last met my Quad foreign minister counterparts in October 2020 in Tokyo and we agreed to continue meeting on a regular basis, following our first ministerial meeting in New York in September 2019,” she told The Australian.

“The Quad’s positive agenda complements Australia’s other bilateral, regional and multilateral engagement, including with ASEAN, to strengthen the Indo-Pacific’s economic recovery, sec­urity, sovereignty and resilience.”

The proposed online leaders’ meeting would be a first for the ­security grouping, which US ­national security adviser Jake Sullivan has branded “a foundation upon which to build substantial American policy in the Indo-Pacific”.

China is fervently opposed to the Quad, while India has until recently avoided antagonising Beijing through only low-key support for the grouping.

China’s incursions into Indian territory in the Himalayas have led New Delhi to take a much harder line, bringing the country more firmly into the Indo-Pacific security partnership.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said a meeting of all Quad leaders — Mr Biden, Mr Morrison, Japan’s Yoshihide Suga and India’s Narendra Modi — “would be a positive step”.

“Australia should be seeking to maximise the Quad’s effectiveness to support our shared pandemic recoveries and shape the region to be stable, prosperous and respectful of sovereignty,” Senator Wong said. “This will require more than meetings — the Morrison government needs to work with allied and aligned nat­ions and commit the resources to deliver our interests.”

The Quad’s potential as a security grouping was demonstrated last year when Australia was invited by India to attend its Nov­ember Malabar naval exercises with the US and Japan.

Australia has also strengthened its defence partnership, with a new joint logistics agreement, and a pledge by Japan’s Self-­Defence Forces to “protect Australian Defence Force assets” if they come under threat.

Australia is also focused on working with Quad partners to deliver COVID-19 vaccines, improve maritime security, deliver regional infrastructure, improve supply chain resilience, provide disaster relief, and counter cyber attacks and disinformation.

Lowy Institute executive director Michael Fullilove said the Biden administration wanted to compete, not co-operate, with China.

“All the early signals from the Biden administration — including President Biden’s remarks at the State Department, NSA Jake Sullivan’s call for a ‘chorus of ­voices’ to respond to Beijing, Secretary of State Tony Blinken’s ­forward-leaning phone call with Yang Jiechi, and the reported move on a Quad leaders’ meeting — indicate that Washington ­intends to muscle up to Beijing,” he said.