Quad ministers to tackle China ‘disinformation’

Australia, the US, Japan and India will work together to fight disinformation in a co-ordinated pushback against China

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets with Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne at the State Department in Washington, DC in July. Picture: AFP

Australia, the US, Japan and India will work together to fight disinformation and establish trusted supply chains for critical minerals and technologies in a co-ordinated pushback against China to be agreed at high-level “Quad” talks in Japan next week.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne will meet with Quadrilateral Security Dialogue counterparts in a COVID-safe bubble in Tokyo on Tuesday, where the group’s members will also work on joint economic recovery plans.

The meeting is just the second of Quad foreign ministers and underlines its importance to the Indo-Pacific’s most influential democracies amid rising strategic tensions with China.

After the talks, Senator Payne will have separate bilateral meetings with Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi, India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and return home via Singapore for talks with its Foreign Minister, Vivian Balakrishnan. The move to formally add disinformation to the Quad agenda is a direct response to an explosion of Chinese fake news in the COVID era, which Senator Payne has warned is undermining democracy and sowing “fear and division”.

All four Quad nations are determined to establish non-Chinese supply chains for key technologies – including 5G – and critical minerals, as a security and economic priority.

The member states hope the meeting will send a signal to other Indo-Pacific partners, particularly Southeast Asian nations, that they don’t need to align themselves with China to get their economies back on track.

Senator Payne, who will travel to Tokyo with a small delegation and must quarantine for a fortnight when she returns, said the meeting would support regional responses to the COVID pandemic, with discussion of vaccines, supply chains and quality infrastructure investment.

“This visit is an opportunity to advance Australia’s interests, deepen ties with like-minded partners, and reaffirm our shared commitment to promoting a stable, inclusive and prosperous region as we work towards COVID-19 recovery,” she said.

“We are committed to working together, and with all countries in the region, to chart a road to recovery in a way that helps all countries reinforce their sovereignty and resilience.”

China has already signalled its displeasure at the meeting of what it has branded an “exclusive clique” that targets “third parties”.

But the face-to-face meeting during the COVID crisis is seen as a ringing endorsement by each Quad nation of the dialogue’s importance in strengthening regional security.

Australia expects the meeting, which follows inaugural talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last year, will become a regular fixture in the diplomatic calendars of all four nations.

ANU National Security College head Rory Medcalf said the Quad, which began as an informal grouping, was increasingly turning into a “comprehensive strategic alignment”.