India on Thursday argued that the Quad should keep its focus on countering China in the Indo-Pacific region, even as the United States raised the issue of Russia’s military offensives against Ukraine during a virtual meeting of the leaders of the four-nation coalition.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined President Joe Biden of the United States, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan in the virtual summit of the Quad – the third such interaction after the coalition was formally elevated to the level of the leaders of the four nations in March 2021.
The Quad’s virtual summit on Thursday however exposed the differences within the four-nation coalition over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Also read: Quad leaders agree what Ukraine experiencing should not be allowed in Indo-Pacific: Japan PM
Modi underlined that the Quad must remain focused on its core objective of promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. Biden, however, sought to broaden the ambit of the coalition and its commitment to upholding sovereignty and territorial integrity, in an apparent bid to draw a parallel between Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and China’s belligerence against India and other nations in the Indo-Pacific region.
Biden later tweeted that he had a meeting with Modi, Morrison and Kishida “about Russia’s ongoing attack on Ukraine” and the “commitment” of the four nations to “sovereignty and territorial integrity around the world, including in the Indo-Pacific”.
The joint statement issued after the virtual summit did not condemn Russia, apparently due to objections from India. It, however, noted that the four leaders had discussed the “ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine”. They also assessed its “broader implications”, it added.
Also read: Ukraine, the Quad, and India-Australia ties
Modi, Biden, Morrison and Kishida agreed to stand up new humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mechanism, which would enable the Quad to meet future humanitarian challenges in the Indo-Pacific and provide a channel for communication as they each address and respond to the crisis in Ukraine.
India, Japan, Australia and the US re-launched Quad in 2017 to build a bulwark of democratic nations to counter the hegemonic aspirations of communist China in the Indo-Pacific region.
Modi on Thursday called for concrete and practical forms of cooperation within the Quad, in areas like humanitarian and disaster relief, debt sustainability, supply chains, clean energy, connectivity, and capacity-building.
A press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi stated that Modi, Biden, Morrison and Kishida had discussed Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, including its humanitarian implications. It also said that the Prime Minister had emphasised the need to return to a path of dialogue and diplomacy.
New Delhi, however, resisted the Biden Administration’s move to get the coalition to collectively call out Russian President Vladimir Putin for sending troops to invade the East European nation.
India’s other partners in the ‘Quad’, Japan and Australia, however, echoed the US to slam Russia.
India has been abstaining from voting on resolutions sponsored or supported by the US at the United Nations Security Council and the General Assembly against Russia.
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