First Quad Leaders’ Summit Today Will Focus On Vaccines, Climate Change; China To Monitor The Meet

China will be closely monitoring the development as Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has already issued a statement saying that it expects the US, India, Australia and Japan to do things “conducive” to regional peace and stability.

US President Joe Biden, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in file photos

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will come together for the first online QUAD Summit today. The summit will be conducted online at 7 PM (IST),  owing to the Covid circumstances.  

The first QUAD Summit 2021 is aimed to focus on practical cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Region, the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, and climate change.  Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in its statement on Quad Summit, said, that the "Summit will provide an opportunity to exchange views on contemporary challenges such as resilient supply chains, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security, and climate change."

Besides this, regional and global issues of shared interest will also be discussed.

While both Biden and Modi will participate in the meeting of the Quadrilateral group of nations, it has not been announced whether the two leaders will have an exclusive meeting with each other.

COVID-19 pandemic, free and open Indo-Pacific on agenda

On the COVID-19 vaccines, the MEA statement said, the "leaders will discuss ongoing efforts to combat Covid-19 pandemic and explore opportunities for collaboration in ensuring safe, equitable and affordable vaccines in the Indo-Pacific region."

“They will also discuss ongoing efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and explore opportunities for collaboration in ensuring safe, equitable, and affordable vaccines in the Indo-Pacific region,” reported ANI.

The White House also released a statement in which it said, "That President Biden has made this one of his earliest multilateral engagements speaks to the importance we place on close cooperation with our allies and partners in the Indo- Pacific." 

"A range of issues, of course, will be discussed — we expect to be discussed, I should say — facing the global community from the threat of COVID, to economic cooperation, and of course, to the climate crisis," it added.

What is the Quadrilateral Security dialogue?

Quad first came into existence after the 2004 Tsunami and was first formalized in 2007. Quad was set up to influence Chian's growing influence over Asia and the then Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was a part of the initial set up.

The Quad leaders are also expected to confirm their intentions to reduce their dependence on China-produced rare earth, Nikkei Asia reported.

China is the largest producer of rare earth minerals and accounts for nearly 60 per cent of global production.

China will be closely monitoring the QUAD Summit

Considering the reasons for the formation of the summit China has reacted ahead of today's meet. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, “We hope the relevant countries will keep in mind the common interests of the regional countries uphold the principles of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation and do things that are conducive to regional peace stability and prosperity rather than the opposite."