‘Quad a force for good, more strategically aligned than ever’

Wilmington: The four-member Quad is a force for good and is more strategically aligned than ever before, a joint declaration issued after the meeting of the grouping’s leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has said.

Hosted by President Joe Biden, the Quad Leaders’ Summit took place on Saturday in his hometown Wilmington, Delaware. It was attended by Prime Minister Modi, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan.

“Four years since elevating the Quad to a leader-level format, the Quad is more strategically aligned than ever before and is a force for good that delivers real, positive, and enduring impact for the Indo-Pacific,” said the Wilmington Declaration issued after the fourth in-person Quad Summit. “We celebrate the fact that over just four years, Quad countries have built a vital and enduring regional grouping that will buttress the Indo-Pacific for decades to come,” the declaration said.

“As four leading maritime democracies in the Indo-Pacific, we unequivocally stand for the maintenance of peace and stability across this dynamic region, as an indispensable element of global security and prosperity,” it said, adding the grouping strongly opposes any destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion, in a veiled reference to China.

China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

It claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims. “We condemn recent illicit missile launches in the region that violate UN Security Council resolutions. We express serious concern over recent dangerous and aggressive actions in the maritime domain. We seek a region where no country dominates and no country is dominated—one where all countries are free from coercion, and can exercise their agency to determine their futures,” the declaration said.

The four nations are committed to upholding a “stable and open “international system, with its strong support for human rights.