U.S. President Joe Biden hosted his last meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue on Saturday, bringing together leaders from Australia, Japan, and India in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
The joint statement from the meeting covered climate, cyber, health and maritime security (including strong language objecting to “coercive and intimidating” actions in the South China Sea), undersea-cable development, Myanmar’s civil war, and “the need for a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace” in Ukraine. The missive made no mention of Russia.
The statement also only implicitly referenced Beijing, although Biden was caught on a ‘hot mic’ telling his fellow leaders that “China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region, and it’s true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits.”
'Here to stay’
Biden told a press conference that the Quad would last “way beyond November [elections],” while Modi reiterated that the Quad is “here to stay.”
With the twin exits of Biden and Kishida, the Indian prime minister is now the grouping’s de facto torchbearer. Modi said he looked forward to hosting the next Quad Leaders’ Summit in 2025.
Pushing for peace
Modi has positioned himself as a potential peacemaker in the Russia-Ukraine war, being one of a few world leaders who has visited both countries since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, after meeting with India’s long-time national security advisor, Ajit Doval, on September 12 in St. Petersburg, proposed another bilateral meeting with Modi on the margins of the upcoming BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia.
According to the Kremlin, Doval also “informed [Putin] about Narendra Modi’s readiness to share information on his recent visit to Ukraine,” hinting at New Delhi’s possible role in brokering dialogue between Russia and Ukraine.
