Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said that the Quad has gained a significant place on the world stage in a short span of time as the Quad countries joined the bulk of ASEAN nations and New Zealand to launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) that aims to provide an economic alternative to China’s geostrategic footprint in the Indo-Pacific. 

US President Joe Biden said that the Quad is "not just a passing fad but it means business," and the four leaders of the grouping were in Tokyo to get things done for the region and he was proud of "what they are building together".  The Quad summit is being attended also Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australia’s newly-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who took the oath of office only a day earlier after the Labour party won the national elections.

Only three ASEAN nations - Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos - which are considered close to Beijing are not yet part of the IPEF whose formation Modi said "is a declaration of our collective will to make the region an engine of global economic growth.”

He said that Quad’s mutual cooperation is achieving a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, one of whose manifestations was the formation of the IPEF to prevent China from having an economic stranglehold and control supply chains of the region. 

"We've shown that Quad is not just a passing fad, we mean business. We're here to get things done for the region, and I'm proud of what we're building together and I look forward to our vital partnership flourishing and for many years to come," Biden said. Biden attacked Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, saying it is trying to extinguish a culture and warned that the global food crisis may worsen by Russia blocking Ukraine from exporting its grains.

The summit is taking place under the shadow of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It is also taking place at a time when relations between China and the Quad member countries have become fraught, with Beijing increasingly challenging democratic values and resorting to coercive trade practices.

India, the US and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's rising military manoeuvring in the region, according to The Indian Express.  China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea.

The rollout of the IPEF is expected to send across a signal that the US is focused on pushing forward a strong economic policy for the region to counter China's aggressive strategy on trade in the region, The Indian Express said. 

In March last year, Biden hosted the first summit of the Quad leaders in the virtual format that was followed by an in-person summit in Washington in September. The Quad leaders also held a virtual meeting in March.

In November 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence, amidst China's growing military muscle-flexing in the strategic region.

(SAM)