US President Joe BidenAFP
Published 09/21/2024 19:30
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, showed the leaders of Australia, Japan and India a piece of the city where he has lived for most of his life, Wilmington, in the state of Delaware, as he hosted what could be the last meeting of the Indo Partnership-Pacific, or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), which gained prominence during his tenure in the White House. This weekend’s summit is the fourth in-person meeting of these leaders since 2021 and the sixth general meeting.
“It (the Quad) will live on after November,” Biden declared, referring to the month of presidential elections in the United States, as the leaders met at Archmere Academy, a high school he attended in neighbouring Claymont, for joint talks. “I don’t think the principal of this school thought I’d be chairing a meeting like this,” Biden joked to the other leaders.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan’s Fumio Kishida attended the summit ahead of attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week.
As part of the summit, the leaders were to announce new initiatives to strengthen maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region – with increased coast guard cooperation in the Pacific and Indian Oceans – and improve cooperation in humanitarian response missions. These measures are aimed at counteracting China’s expansionism.
Biden and Modi were expected to discuss Modi’s recent visits to Russia and Ukraine, as well as economic and security concerns about China. Modi is the most prominent leader of a country that maintains a neutral stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
