With US President Joe Biden calling off his visit to Australia for the Quad summit there next week, the high-profile event may take place in Hiroshima, Japan, this weekend. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Biden will review the situation in the Indo-Pacific against the backdrop of Chinese aggressive stance there. The Quad grouping includes India, the US, Australia, and Japan.
Prime Minister Modi will travel to Japan to attend the G-7 meet where the Quad meeting between the leaders of Australia, Japan, US and India is likely to be held on coming Saturday or Sunday.
Modi will then attend the Indo-Pacific Forum meeting in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea followed by a visit to Australia. He will hold a bilateral meeting with Albanese besides taking part in a conference of business leaders. The Indian diaspora will hold a reception for the Prime Minister in Sydney on May 23. Biden is also expected to meet Modi on the side-lines of the G-7 summit.
Giving details of Modi’s three-nation tour, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said on Tuesday he will visit Hiroshima on May 19-21 for the G-7 summit. He will speak at G-7 sessions with partner countries on subjects such as peace, stability and prosperity of a sustainable planet, food, fertiliser and energy security, health, gender equality, climate change and environment, resilient infrastructure, and development cooperation.
Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with Kishida. He will also hold bilateral meetings with some of the other participating leaders on the side-lines of the Summit.
The Prime Minister will then travel to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where he will host the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation jointly with the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea on May 22.
Launched in 2014, FIPIC involves India and 14 Pacific Island Countries, namely, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Samoa, Vanuatu, Niue, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Palau, Nauru and Solomon Islands.
Thereafter, Modi will visit Sydney, Australia, on May22-24.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Albanese on Wednesday cancelled next week’s Quad leaders meeting in Sydney after President Biden postponed his visit to Australia to focus on crucial debt-ceiling talks to prevent a catastrophic federal default.
Speaking to the media, Albanese said it is still possible that his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will visit Sydney next week. “The Quad leaders’ meeting will not be going ahead in Sydney next week,” Albanese said in Tweed Heads, a town in New South Wales.
Albanese said the leaders of Australia, the US, India and Japan will now meet at the G7 Summit in Japan this weekend.
“We, though, will be having that discussion between Quad leaders in Japan. I thank Prime Minister (Fumio) Kishida for his invitation for me to attend the G7 and it is appropriate that we talk. The Quad is an important body and we want to make sure that it occurs at the leadership level and we’ll be having that discussion over the weekend,” Albanese said.
President Biden announced on Tuesday that he will postpone the Australia leg of his Asia trip, along with that of Papua New Guinea, given the uncertainty and intense negotiations with the opposition Republican Party to ensure that America does not default on its debt for the first time in history.
Biden has been forced to turn his attention to domestic politics, as he works to hash out a deal with Republicans to prevent the US from defaulting on its debts at the end of this month.
“Because that has to be solved prior to June 1 -- otherwise there are quite drastic consequences for the US economy, which will flow on to the global economy -- he understandably has had to make that decision,” Albanese said.
Albanese also said Biden was “disappointed” as he was unable to come to Australia and that the Quad leaders would instead try to gather on the margins of the G7 leaders meeting in Hiroshima.
“All four leaders -- President Biden, Prime Minister Kishida, Prime Minister Modi and myself -- will be at the G7, held in Hiroshima on Saturday and Sunday. We are attempting to get together over that period of time [and] I’ll have a bilateral discussion with President Biden,” he said.
“At this stage, we haven’t got time locked in for that arrangement.” Albanese said it was still possible that Modi and Kishida would visit Sydney next week, but officials in all three countries were still trying to confirm their plans.
“Prime Minister Modi had a bilateral meeting scheduled for Sydney as well. We are in discussions with the Quad leaders today. We’ll make further announcements about that, but Prime Minister Modi would certainly be a very welcome guest here next week,” he said.
“And, of course, I received the warmest of welcomes by Prime Minister Modi in India in March. I’ll be attending the G20 meeting that will be held in New Delhi later this year as well. Obviously, the decision by President Biden that he has been forced to make because of the holding-up of those budget issues in the United States means that the rescheduling of other arrangements is being made and those discussions are taking place respectfully over the course of today,” he said.