China blows hot and cold over Quad summit

Beijing: China on Monday termed Quad as a tool used by the US to contain Beijing, asserting that interference by any external force will not shake its determination to uphold its “sovereignty and maritime rights” in the disputed South and East China Seas.

“Quad is identified as the premier regional grouping that plays a leading role in the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy. It is a tool the US uses to contain China and perpetuate US hegemony,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a media briefing, fielding a spate of questions on the Quad summit.

Hosted by President Joe Biden, the Quad Summit took place on Saturday in his hometown Wilmington, Delaware. The summit was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan. Lin accused the US of attempting to “patch up forces to exclude and contain China by peddling the “China threat” narrative. “The Quad tries to muster military and security cooperation under the pretext of maritime issues -- same intention, same tactics,” he said.

Though the US claims that it does not target China, the first topic of the summit is about China and China was made an issue throughout the event, he said, in a veiled reference to informal comments by Biden to fellow Quad leaders.

Biden was caught on a hot mic telling leaders of the Quad nations that China was testing them, thus reflecting upon the American seriousness of the emerging Chinese threat.

“We believe (Chinese President) Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges and minimise the turbulence in China,” Biden told the leaders at the Summit.

The US is lying through its teeth and even the US media does not believe it, Lin said, replying to a question about Biden’s comments. “Ganging up to form exclusive groupings undermines the mutual trust and cooperation between regional countries, runs counter to the overwhelming trend of pursuing peace, development, cooperation, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and is bound to fail,” he said. Ever since the Quad started taking shape in 2007, China has been saying that the four-member grouping will be bound to fail. But much to the chagrin of Beijing, it picked up pace in the recent years emerging as a premier strategic group especially challenging China’s assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.