A senior Biden administration official said that he had "entered a new stage" at the first online summit meeting held on the night of the 12th of Japan time with the participation of four countries, Japan, the United States, Australia and India. With the increasing number of China in mind, he emphasized the idea that the Biden administration will place greater emphasis on this framework.
The "Quad", a meeting of leaders within the framework of the four countries of Japan, the United States, Australia, and India, was held for the first time online on the night of the 12th of Japan time at the behest of President Biden of the United States, and Prime Minister Suga Will participate.
According to senior Biden administration officials, the meeting will discuss three themes: manufacturing and strengthening the supply of new coronavirus vaccines, climate change, and 5G, a high-speed, high-capacity communication standard.
This framework, which began in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, strengthened cooperation during the time of the former Trump administration, when the conflict between the United States and China deepened.
The Biden administration wants to strengthen ties with its allies and friends in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China, which it considers to be its "most important competitor," and senior officials said, "President Biden's first multilateral summit is this. It is important to be held in the framework. This is the first meeting at the summit level and we have entered a new stage, "he emphasized the idea of putting more emphasis on this framework.
China Foreign Ministry spokesman "should not be a Chinese siege"
About the meeting Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, said at a press conference on the 12th, "Do not target third parties or undermine profits. Instead of forming a closed and exclusive group, It should be something that benefits the peace and stability of the region, "he said, expressing the idea that it should not be a so-called Chinese siege network and restrained it.
Will India Vaccine Diplomacy Against China?
Through the quad framework, India seems to be aiming to attract investment to its own pharmaceutical companies and counter China in so-called vaccine diplomacy.
India is a "vaccine powerhouse" that manufactures 60% of the vaccines distributed in the world such as polio and measles, according to the Indian government.
Regarding the vaccine for the new coronavirus, the world's largest pharmaceutical company "Serum Institute of India" has signed a contract with AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom to manufacture vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and others. In addition, we manufacture vaccines originally developed by the local pharmaceutical company "Bharat Biotech".
India is also focusing on exporting vaccines and providing them free of charge to foreign countries, and is also supplying them to the COVAX Facility, an international framework for fair distribution of vaccines throughout the world, led by the United Nations and other organizations.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India, so far, more than 58 million vaccines have been supplied to more than 60 countries such as Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Meanwhile, neighboring China is also promoting the supply of vaccines developed in its own country to foreign countries.
In some countries, India and China are competing with each other, and so-called “vaccine diplomacy” is becoming more active in order to strengthen their influence on the countries and regions through the supply of vaccines.
India seems to be aiming to compete with China by attracting investment in vaccine manufacturing companies through the quad framework and increasing its vaccine manufacturing capacity and supply capacity to foreign countries.