India is expected to join Japan, Australia and the United States in May to send out the message that the Quad remained committed to containing China in the Indo-Pacific region, notwithstanding the geopolitical crisis triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will likely travel to Tokyo next month to join American President Joe Biden as well as his Japanese and Australian counterparts for a summit of the QUAD. Apart from Modi and Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to attend the Quad Summit 2022, which Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will host in Tokyo on May 24. This is going to be the second in-person meeting of the Quad – a coalition re-launched by India, Australia, Japan and the United Nations in 2017 to counter China’s dominance in the Indo-Pacific region.
For the first in-person summit of the Quad, Biden had hosted Modi, Morrison and Kishida in the White House in Washington DC in September 2021. A summit organised between Modi and Kishida on March 19, however, saw India joining Japan to “assess broader implications” of the conflict, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region. Kishida also tried to move Modi towards taking a tougher stance on the ongoing conflict. Modi also had a virtual summit with Morrison on March 21 and the two leaders agreed that the conflict should not divert their attention from dealing with China in the Indo-Pacific region.
The prime minister and the US president on April 11 had a video call. Modi Biden said that the United States would continue to hold “close consultations” with India on how to manage the “destabilising effects” of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Modi expressed concern over the situation in the East European country, terming the reports of the killing of innocent civilians “very worrying”. Biden said that the US would continue to hold “close consultations” with India on how to manage the “destabilising effects” of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Prime Minister Modi’s recent bilateral meetings with his Australian, American and Japanese counterparts and the summit, expected to be held in Tokyo on May 24 will send out a signal to Beijing that the Quad nations are committed to dealing with China and are looking forward to promoting the vision of free and open Indo-Pacific, as articulated India and the US during the 2+2 ministerial dialogue, which took place in Washington D.C. just after the Modi-Biden video-conference on April 11.
Biden, after speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a virtual meeting ahead of the 2+2 dialogue between the two countries, tweeted:
“I spoke today with Prime Minister Modi of India. We committed to strengthening our defense, economic, and people-to-people relationship to together seek a peaceful and prosperous world.”
Biden also said that he is looking forward to meeting Prime Minister Modi during Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) summit in Japan on May 24:
“It’s always good to see you. I am looking forward to seeing you in Japan on 24th May.”
