TOKYO: Quad looks into future, say India and Australia, rebuff China

TOKYO: India and Australia held their first 2+2 ministerial dialogue on last Saturday and while discussing Afghanistan, rejected China’s criticism of Quad as an Asian Nato.
The two countries rejected China’s description of the Quad with external Affairs Minister S Jaishankar saying it was important to not misrepresent reality and that the Group is a platform for four countries to cooperate “for their benefit and for the benefit of the world”.

“I think a term like Nato is
very much a cold war term, looking back. I think Quad looks in the future, it
reflects globalisation, it reflects the compulsions of countries to work
together,” he said, adding that Quad was focused on issues like vaccines,
supply chains and education.

Australian foreign minister
Marise Payne supplemented Jaishankar saying, “Quad members are champions
of ASEAN centrality, we actively engage in that ASEAN architecture. We are
committed to supporting the practical implementation of the ASEAN outlook on
the Indo-Pacific.”

“I can’t see any relationship between such issues and NATO or any other
kind of organisations like that. So, I think it is important not to
misrepresent what is the reality out there,” Jaishankar said.
In his remarks after the meeting, Jaishankar also said Afghanistan was a major
subject of discussion and that the two sides had agreed it was important for
the international community to unite in its approach, guided by the August 30
UNSC resolution that emphasised “most of all” the Taliban’s commitment
to not allow the use of Afghan soil for terrorism, including from terrorists
and terrorist groups designated under resolution 1267.

But apart from that, as
Jaishankar said in what was India’s first reaction to the ‘government’
formation in Kabul, there was a concern about the inclusiveness of the
dispensation, concerns about the treatment of women and minorities, matters related
to travel of Afghans, issues regarding humanitarian assistance. “So, it is
an evolving situation,” he said.

Jaishankar was speaking at a joint press event after he and Defence Minister
Rajath Singh held the inaugural dialogue here with their Australian
counterparts Payne and Peter Dutton.

Expressing similar sentiments on
Quad, Payne said as Australia and India have re-energised relations, there was
also the opportunity to work through smaller groups like the Quad and other
pieces of regional architecture like the East Asia Summit or the ASEAN regional
forum.

“We also say that we have a
positive and practical agenda — around vaccines, around climate, around
critical technology also trying to address some of the dangerous misinformation
that pervades the world experience in relation to the (Covid) pandemic,”
the minister said.

Referring to Quad, she said the
constructive engagement in a normal diplomatic network was overwhelmingly about
contributing positively for that “open, inclusive and resilient region in
which we all want to live”.