Quad Summit Delaware: Leaders Counter China with Bold Security Pact

Quad Summit Delaware

Delaware Quad Security Dialogue Summit to Issue New Security Initiative in Response to China’s Challenge

WASHINGTON — On September 21, 2023, President Joe Biden hosted the final Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) summit in Wilmington, Delaware, with leaders from Australia, India, and Japan, focusing on a new security initiative to counter challenges posed by China. The summit’s joint statement is expected to adopt a stronger stance on the South China Sea and North Korea, reflecting the Quad’s growing significance as a multilateral security framework.

The G4 summit, originally scheduled for India this year, will now take place in New Delhi in 2025, marking Biden’s last participation before transitioning power. Leaders are set to announce the expansion of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Awareness Partnership and explore enhanced military cooperation amid rising tensions due to China’s assertive territorial claims and actions in the region.

Key Concepts

• The final Quad summit hosted by President Biden focused on a new security initiative addressing challenges posed by China.
• Leaders from Australia, India, and Japan participated in the summit alongside Biden.
• The joint statement from the summit is expected to adopt a firmer stance on the South China Sea and North Korea issues.
• Biden emphasized the importance of the Quad as a key diplomatic achievement of his administration.
• The G4 summit will now be hosted by New Delhi in 2025, marking Biden’s final participation before transitioning power.
• The leaders are expected to announce the expansion of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Awareness Partnership to the Indian Ocean.
• A joint Coast Guard operation involving personnel from all four nations is also anticipated during the summit.
• Enhanced cooperation in military logistics and delivery of security technologies to Pacific island nations will be explored.
• The Quad’s shift towards security reflects shared concerns over China’s aggressive territorial claims.
• India’s reluctance to form military alliances is influenced by concerns about the perception of militarization in the Indo-Pacific.
• China’s aggressive actions at sea may be driving India towards greater security collaboration within the Quad.
• The upcoming joint statement from the Quad summit will address critical issues with a firmer tone than before.

U.S. President Joe Biden hosted his final Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, summit in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday, September 21, which is expected to unveil a new security initiative to address challenges from Beijing.

White House officials said the four-nation joint statement would discuss the South China Sea and North Korea issues in harsher terms than in the past.

In addition to Biden, the leaders attending the Quad Security Dialogue include Australian Prime Minister Antony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

On Friday night, Biden hosted a dinner for the other three leaders at his home and held one-on-one meetings with them.

Reuters reported on Saturday that Biden will emphasize the importance of maintaining the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue mechanism during the talks on Saturday, and he also regards this security mechanism as an important diplomatic achievement during his administration.

Biden hosted the first Quad Leaders’ summit at the White House in 2021. Since then, the group has held two more face-to-face meetings in Japan. Biden received the leaders of the other three countries in the Quad at the White House, who will start state visits to the United States. The frequent interactions among the four countries highlight the importance of this institution.

India was originally scheduled to host the summit this year, but the four leaders agreed that New Delhi should host the summit in 2025.

This will not only be Biden’s last time to host the G4 summit but also his last time to attend the summit of the organization. After the US election this year, Biden will hand over power to his successor, either Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris or Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Senior Biden administration officials told reporters that the summit would announce the expansion of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Awareness Partnership, which was established two years ago, to the Indian Ocean. The four countries will also announce a plan for a four-country coast guard joint operation, which means that members of the coast guards of Australia, Japan, and India will board U.S. Coast Guard ships to work together. The four countries also plan to cooperate more in military logistics operations.

White House officials said the four leaders will also discuss how to speed up the delivery of key and security technologies to Pacific Island and Southeast Asian countries, including a new open radio communications network.

Reuters pointed out in its report that the Pacific island countries and Southeast Asia are important regions where the United States and China are engaged in fierce strategic competition.

Reuters quoted experts as saying that the new maritime security initiative was released at a time when Beijing was asserting its territorial sovereignty claims in the South China Sea and the East China Sea more assertively. It marks that the security dialogue and cooperation of the Quad group is shifting to the security field and expresses the four countries’ common concern about China’s strong changes.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, including parts of the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Beijing also has a fierce sovereignty dispute with Japan over the Senkaku Islands (called Diaoyu Islands in China) in the East China Sea. At the same time, Beijing also insists on its sovereignty over Taiwan and has publicly stated that it will achieve unification with the two sides even if it resorts to force.

Reuters quoted Lisa Curtis, an Asian policy expert at the Washington think tank Center for New American Security (CNAS), who had worked in the White House, the State Department, and the CIA, as saying that India has never formed any military alliance and has expressed concern about the impression that the Quad is militarizing the Indo-Pacific.

“But I think it’s possible that China’s recent aggressive behavior at sea has changed India’s calculus and prompted India to be a little more open to the idea of ​​Quad security cooperation,” Curtis said.

U.S. government officials said Friday that the joint statement issued after the Quad summit will express its position on hot issues such as the South China Sea and North Korea in harsher terms than in the past.