MELBOURNE, 11 February 2022: The Quad foreign Ministers meeting ended here today with a ” commitment to supporting Indo Pacific countries’ efforts to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific – a region which is inclusive and resilient, and in which states strive to protect the interests of their people, free from coercion.” This was an obvious reference to contain Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific in the joint statement, though India’s foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar said, “we are for something, not against someone.”
The Indian foreign minister during the media conference after the meeting made crystal clear the country’s stand on Myanmar, saying because of the peculiar issues India faces, it supports ASEAN stand and does not support national sanctions against the military dictatorship in Myanmar.
“As leading democracies, we pursue our shared vision of upholding a rules-based international order free from coercion…based on respect for territorial integrity sovereignty, rule of law, transparency, freedom of navigation in the international seas and peaceful resolution,” Mr. Jaishankar said.
After the Quad meeting, Mr. Jaishankar is proceeding to the Philippines on a visit from February 13 to 15 after the Southeast Asian country signed a USD 375 million deal with India to buy three batteries of the Russian-Indian built BrahMos cruise missile. This is the first-ever export order for BrahMos missiles. Earlier, India started receiving SS-400 missiles from Russia after a $5.5 billion deal for five long-range surface-to-air missile systems, a deal signed in 2018. India’s stand of “…not against someone” is intrinsically related to its defense supplies from Russia and the emerging China-Russia alliance.
The pro-Beijing Global Times reflecting China’s response to the Quad says, ” The sign is clearer than ever that the US is turning Quad into a tool to serve its own strategic goal of countering China and Russia simultaneously, observers said, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought the topic of the Ukraine crisis to the Friday (11 Feb 2022) meeting of Quad foreign ministers even though this group of US, Australia, Japan and India was formed for “Indo-Pacific” affairs and to target China.”
Meanwhile, the Quad’s pandemic response is reflected in the joint statement: “As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Quad partners have collectively provided more than 500 million vaccine doses. Together, we have pledged to donate more than 1.3 billion vaccine doses globally. We are pleased with the Quad Vaccine Partnership’s rapid progress in expanding vaccine production at the Biological E Ltd facility in India, which aims to deliver at least 1 billion vaccines by the end of 2022. We look forward to the delivery of the first batch of Quad-supported vaccines in the first half of this year. We are assisting to train healthcare workers, combat vaccine hesitancy and augment infrastructure, especially cold chain systems, for ‘last mile’ vaccine delivery. We are working to identify and address vaccine gaps and barriers exacerbated by gender, disability and social inequities, and ensure safe, effective, affordable and quality-assured vaccination coverage in hard-to-reach areas. We welcome the timely initiative for coordinating the response to combat the COVID pandemic under a Global Action Plan for Enhanced Engagement.”
