washingtonAhead of the Quad leaders’ summit later this month in Australia, the White House has said there are no plans to add new members to the group at this time. Quad countries include India, Australia, Japan and the US. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden will attend the Quadrilateral Group Summit in Sydney, Australia on 24 May.
White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Pierre told reporters, “The Quad was established two years ago. Quad is still a relatively young group. There are no plans to add new members at this time. He said that the members of the Quad have agreed to this now. He also said, “However, the Quad welcomes opportunities to work with many partners in the Indo-Pacific region.” Will showcase other opportunities for partnership in health, infrastructure and other sectors. The topmost priority of the Quad is to ensure that it works well for the Indo-Pacific. So, there is no talk on extension at this point of time.” In May last year, the Quad leaders held a face-to-face summit in Tokyo for the second time.
During that summit, President Biden launched the ambitious ‘Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity’ (IPEF), which seeks to deepen cooperation between like-minded countries in areas such as clean energy, supply-chain resilience and digital trade. It is an initiative aimed at cooperation. India, the US and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s growing military activity in the region. China claims almost all of the disputed South China Sea, although Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea.
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