Australia,Japan,India and the United States will present a united front against authoritarian countries all over the world as Russia and China grow increasingly close ahead of a potential invasion of Ukraine.
The foreign ministers of the “Quad” grouping met on Friday afternoon in Melbourne alongside Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison,vowing to combat,and to send more vaccines to developing nations.
While the Quad has traditionally been focused on standing up to a rising and more aggressive China,there is growing concern among the countries that Russian President Vladimir Putin last week met face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping,with the two leaders releasing a joint statement saying they “oppose further enlargement of NATO” and called on the organisation to “abandon its ideologised Cold War approaches”.
While the four foreign ministers recognised that the Quad “maintains the primacy of the Indo-Pacific”,US Secretary of State Tony Blinken raised concern that the events in Ukraine “challenge basic principles that all Quad partners want to see upheld”.
Of the four Quad countries,India would be the least prepared to upset Russia given its history of taking a neutral approach when it comes to Moscow.
Heading into her meeting with Mr Blinken,Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne warned there were a number of authoritarian countries that needed to be dealt with.
“More than one authoritarian regime is presenting itself in the current world climate as a challenge – DPRK[North Korea],China as well. And they will be part of our discussions today,” she said. “We strongly support US leadership in these challenges.”