Biden Hosts Indo-Pacific Leaders       09/25 08:37

   Meeting with the leaders of India, Australia and Japan, President Joe Biden 
declared Friday that the U.S. and other members of the Indo-Pacific alliance 
known as "the Quad" are showing they "know how to get things done" in an 
increasingly complicated corner of the globe.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Meeting with the leaders of India, Australia and Japan, 
President Joe Biden declared Friday that the U.S. and other members of the 
Indo-Pacific alliance known as "the Quad" are showing they "know how to get 
things done" in an increasingly complicated corner of the globe.

   Biden and his fellow leaders-- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, 
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga 
-- are all grappling with a rising China that Biden has accused of coercive 
economic practices and unsettling military maneuvering.

   They made no direct mention of China as they opened the group's first ever 
in-person meeting, but the Pacific power played a big part in the private talks.

   Suga raised concerns about China intentions in the South China Sea, where 
it's stepped up its military presence in recent years, and the East China Sea, 
where a long-running dispute about a group of uninhabited islets administered 
by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing is a point of concern.

   Suga also raised concerns about Chinese action towards Taiwan, said Japan's 
foreign press secretary Tomoyuki Yoshida. On Thursday, Beijing dispatched 24 
jets toward Taiwanese airspace after it submitted its application to join a 
trans-Pacific trade pact. The prime minister "emphasized the importance of the 
peace and stability in the Taiwan strait," according to Yoshida.

   Following the summit, the leaders issued a joint statement pledging "to meet 
challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the East and South 
China Seas."

   The Quad leaders also announced Japan would work with India on a $100 
million investment in COVID-19 vaccine and treatment drugs. They launched an 
initiative to bolster semiconductor supply chains. And they unveiled a new 
fellowship for graduate students in science, technology, engineering and 
mathematics to study at top U.S. universities.

   Biden has repeatedly made a case that the U.S. and likeminded allies need to 
deliver results on the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and other fundamental 
matters in what he's deemed a race between democracies and autocracies.

   Morrison and the others seemed to pick up that message at Friday's summit.

   "We are liberal democracies, believe in a world order that favors freedom," 
Morrison said. "And we believe in a free and open Indo-Pacific, because we know 
that's what delivers a strong, stable and prosperous region.

   Biden and Modi also met prior to the summit for a one-on-one meeting. The 
president played up ties to India -- referencing Vice President Kamala Harris' 
Indian heritage and even his own family ties to the subcontinent.

   Biden also made clear he saw tightening relations with the world's biggest 
democracy -- one that shares a neighborhood with China and Taliban-controlled 
Afghanistan -- as vital for both sides.

   "I've long believed the U.S.-India relationship can help us solve an awful 
lot of global challenges," Biden said..

   The Quad is an informal alliance formed during the response to the 2004 
Indian Ocean tsunami that killed some 230,000 people. Biden has sought to 
reinvigorate the alliance, putting a spotlight on a chief foreign policy goal: 
greater attention to the Pacific and a rising China. The alliance met earlier 
this year, virtually, and announced plans to boost vaccination manufacturing in 
India.

   The Japanese and Indian governments welcomed a recent announcement that the 
U.S., as part of a new alliance with Britain and Australia, would equip 
Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.

   That will allow Australia to conduct longer patrols and give it an edge on 
the Chinese navy. But the announcement infuriated France, which accused the 
Biden administration of stabbing it in the back by squelching its own $66 
billion deal to provide diesel-powered submarines.

   Tensions between Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron eased after the 
two leaders spoke Wednesday and agreed to take steps to coordinate more closely 
in the Indo-Pacific.

   Michael Green, who served as senior director for Asia at the National 
Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, said Japan and India 
welcome the United States-United Kingdom-Australian alliance "because it will 
really for the next 50 years reset the trajectories in naval power in the 
Pacific and from the perspective of those countries stabilize things as China 
massively builds up its naval forces."

   But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian has called it a 
reflection of "outdated Cold War, zero-sum mentality and narrow-minded 
geopolitical perception" that will intensify a regional arms race.

   The meeting concluded a busy week of wider diplomacy for Biden, who 
addressed the U.N. General Assembly in which he stressed that the U.S. does not 
seek a Cold War with China. He also hosted a virtual global summit on COVID-19.

   Despite Australia and the U.S. taking multiple measures to counter China's 
economic and military power, Morrison left the White House meeting Friday 
determined to not publicly confront the Chinese.

   "We're there to make the region stronger, more prosperous, stable. It's a 
positive initiative designed to lift the well being of the people," he said.

   The leaders also discussed the situation in Afghanistan and emphasized in 
their joint statement "the importance of denying any logistical, financial or 
military support to terrorist groups which could be used to launch or plan 
terror attacks, including cross-border attacks." The issue is of particular 
concern to the Modi government, which is concerned about elements of the 
Taliban government who have supported attacks on India in the past.

   Modi was expected to bring up Afghanistan during his meeting with Biden and 
to raise objections to the Taliban's effort to get recognition at the United 
Nations. The Indian government also has concerns about the influence it 
believes Pakistan's intelligence service exerted in how factions of the Taliban 
divvied up government offices in Kabul.

   Suga also raised concerns about North Korea. Pyongyang last week said it 
successfully launched ballistic missiles from a train for the first time, 
striking a target in the sea some 800 kilometers (500 miles) away.

   That test came after the North this month said it tested new cruise 
missiles, which it intends to make nuclear-capable, that can strike targets 
1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away, a distance putting all of Japan and U.S. 
military installations there within reach.