Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the quadrilateral grouping of the US, India, Japan and Australia has "come of age" as he attended the first Quad leaders' summit virtually.
The grouping is being seen as a united front to counter China's imperialistic aggression and expansion through trade and military occupation.
Modi participated in the virtual summit headed by US President Joe Biden along with Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison and Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga.
Modi started his speech by declaring, "It is good to be among friends." The four countries, he said, "are united by our democratic values and our commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific."
The agenda of the summit — covering areas like vaccines, climate change and emerging technologies — makes the Quad a force for global good, he said.
Describing Quad as a positive vision, the Prime Minister said that it is an extension of India's ancient philosophy of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', which regards the world as one family. "We will work together closer than ever before for advancing our shared values and promoting a secure, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific," Modi said.
Quad, he added, "is an important pillar of stability in the region".
Modi's statement was welcomed by a lot of India watchers in the US. Former US diplomat and Harvard academic Nicholas Burns praised the move, tweeting, "Today's first-ever Quad leaders meeting – of the US, India, Japan and Australia – is a big deal. Led by the President of the United States Joe Biden, these four can lead on vaccine distribution, strengthen democracies in the region and limit China's assertiveness."
There are reports that India will produce Johnson & Johnson's single-dose Covid vaccine shot as part of the first Quad initiative. The project will be financed by Japan and the US, while Australia will use its logistics capability to ship the vaccines to Southeast Asia and Pacific countries.
Biden announced the formation of a new joint partnership that is going to boost Covid-19 vaccine production for global benefit and will help the entire Pacific too.
"This is a group is particularly important because it's dedicated to the practical solutions, and concrete results," he said.
He added: "We're renewing our commitment to ensure that our region is governed by international law, committed to upholding universal values and free from coercion."
Biden was flanked by Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Sumona Guha, the National Security Council's senior director for South Asia, were also participating.
A free and open Indo-Pacific is essential, Biden said. "The United States is committed to working with you, our partners, and all of our allies in the region to achieve stability. This is a group particularly important because it is dedicated to the practical solutions and concrete results."
As Biden said in his opening remarks this was the first multilateral summit he is participating in, showing the urgency with which he views the situation in the Indo-Pacific where an aggressive China is emerging as a challenge to both the soft and hard power of the US and its partners.
The push is now for the Quad to become a new model of multilateral cooperation that melds security interests with development.
It plans to start by harnessing India's vaccine development and manufacturing capacity to project the new outlook.
(IANS)
