China will be ‘high’ on Quad Summit agenda: White House spokesperson

From left, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are greeted by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, during their arrival at the 2022 Quad Leaders Summit. File. | Photo credit: AP

According to White House spokesman John Kirby, China will be “high on the agenda” at the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) summit, comprising the US, India, Australia and Japan.

US President Joe Biden will host Quad leaders in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, on September 21. Mr Biden will meet individually with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan. They will also meet to discuss “expanding cooperation on a range of critically important issues,” the White House said.

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“In fact, it would be irresponsible if they did not talk about the challenges that still exist in the region caused by aggressive military action by the People’s Republic of China, for example unfair trade practices and tensions over the Taiwan Strait. I have no doubt that all these issues will be addressed,” he said.

According to White House spokesman John Kirby, health care security, natural disaster response, maritime security, infrastructure, critical and emerging technologies, climate, clean energy and cybersecurity are also on the agenda.

Asked by a journalist at Wednesday’s White House briefing whether Mr. Biden would discuss human rights with Mr. Modi, Mr. Kirby said he did not want to prejudge the talks but that Mr. Biden would if necessary doing.

“There’s not a conversation he has with foreign leaders where he doesn’t talk about the importance of respecting human rights and civil rights, and that includes Prime Minister Modi,” Mr. Kirby said, adding that Mr. Biden had issue raised with Mr Modi earlier.

‘And I’m sure he will be too, if necessary [ doing so ] moving forward,” he said.

Announcements are also expected showing that the Quad will “thrive in the long term,” Kirby said Thursday. The group has seen commitments from Democratic and Republican presidents. It was revived in 2017, during Donald Trump’s presidency, with Mr Biden hosting the Quad’s first leadership-level meeting in September 2021. The summit will be the last such meeting for two of the four leaders, with Mr Biden and Mr Kishida. announcing that they will not stand for re-election.