The Quad Offers the ‘Indo-Pacific’ a Plan To Contain China and Prevent Development

May 24, 2022 (EIRNS)—Today’s meeting of the heads of state and government of the “Quad”—U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi—produced a Leaders’ Statement that outlines an array of issues on which they all purportedly agree, including an clear reference to the threat China allegedly represents to the region, without ever mentioning it by name. The only mention of Ukraine is the assertion that “we discussed our respective responses to the conflict in Ukraine and the ongoing tragic humanitarian crisis, and assessed its implications for the Indo-Pacific.” Biden also met separately with Modi and Albanese.

That the partners “share the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific ... and champion adherence to international law” is the statement’s unsubtle message that China opposes these noble ideas, having been accused of violating them many times by the U.S. and its “partners,” and is instead a threat to the “maintenance of freedom of navigation and overflight, to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the East and South China Seas.”

Using the same language the U.S. repeats ad nauseam in its attacks on China, the statement asserts,

“we strongly oppose any coercive, provocative or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo and increase tensions in the area, such as the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resources exploitation activities.”

The Leaders’ Statement also specifically offers “to address the needs” of the Pacific Island nations, whose cooperation with China they view as a major threat to regional security.

Otherwise, the Leaders listed issues on which they will cooperate, including the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, participating in the global COVID response and provision of vaccines, infrastructure (no mention of what kind), assisting nations with debt issues, educational exchanges, and promoting the transition to green energy. The “Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package” and the affiliated Quad Climate Working Group will promote “green shipping and ports aiming for a shared green corridor framework.” The Quad leaders vow that they will follow the latest suicidal policy recommendations of the anti-science Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and “steadfastly implement” the equally genocidal Paris Agreement and “deliver on the outcomes” of the depopulation lobby’s COP26, whose conclusions were rejected by a large number of developing nations.