Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in the Quad Summit in Tokyo on May 24 and hold bilateral meetings with his Japanese and Australia counterparts and US President Joe Biden there. The summit, the fourth one, will take stock of the situation in the Indo-Pacific region where China is flexing its muscle. Moreover, the summit takes place at a time when the Russia-Ukraine conflict is unabated.
The Quad comprises India, the US, Japan and Australia. The leaders had met for the first ever summit in Washington last year. The forthcoming high-level meet is the second to be held in person while two summits were held virtually.
Giving details of Modi’s upcoming visit, Ministryof External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said here on Thursday bilateral meetings with Japanese counterpart and bilateral meeting with US President will take place the same day.
During the visit, Modi will participate in a business event with Japanese business leaders. He will also address and interact with the Indian community in Japan.
Bagchi said “We attach a lot of importance to the Quad. We have been keen to showcase what the Quad can do together and what it stands for. We will discuss contemporary issues and other issues of importance.”
In November 2017, the US, Australia, India and Japan gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence, amidst China's growing military presence in the strategic region.
The Quad nations also carried out naval drills in the Indo-Pacific region in the last two years. China has all along criticized the combine claiming it will lead to militarization of the region.
Announcing Biden’s schedule, his National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in Washington, “We believe that this summit will demonstrate both in substance and in vision that democracies can deliver and that these four nations working together will defend and uphold the principles of a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
While he is in Tokyo, Biden will also launch a new and ambitious economic initiative for the region, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which will be a 21st century economic arrangement, designed to tackle new economic challenges, he said.
The framework, he said, will involve work ranging “from setting the rules of the digital economy to ensuring secure and resilient supply chains to managing the energy transition to investing in clean, modern high standards infrastructure."
Biden will be joined in person by the Japanese Prime Minister for the launch of IPEF and virtually by leaders from a number of Indo-Pacific partners from down under to southeast Asia to northeast Asia.
Before arriving in Japan, Biden is scheduled to travel to South Korea for a summit meeting with its leaders. “We think putting that on display over four days bilaterally with Korea and Japan through the Quad, through the Indo-Pacific economic framework, it will send a powerful message. We think that message will be heard everywhere. We think it will be heard in Beijing. But it is not a negative message and it's not targeted at any one country,” he said.