QUAD SUMMIT 2021 HOSTED BY USA
US President Joe Biden hosted the first-ever Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) leaders’ Summit at the White House. Quad Summit 2021 was attended by PM Modi, President Biden, Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Reportedly, the Quad leaders summit was structured on- COVID-19 response; Afghanistan & Regional Security; Tech & Cyber Security; and Climate. The Quad members are the grouping of four nations- India, the US, Australia, and Japan. This was also the first-ever in-person Quad meet. The virtual meeting of the leaders was held in March 2021.
PM MODI AT QUAD LEADER'S SUMMIT 2021
Prime Minister Modi in his opening remarks at Quad Summit 2021 said that the four nations met for the first time after the 2004 Tsunami to help the Indo-pacific region. He added that today when the world has been fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, the four nations have come here once again as Quad for the welfare of humanity. While talking about the Quad Vaccine initiative, Prime Minister Modi said that it will help the Indo-pacific nations. Quad has decided to go ahead with a positive approach on the basis of shared democratic values which include climate change, global security, COVID-19 response, or tech cooperation. Our Quad vaccine initiative will help Indo-Pacific nations. Quad decided to go ahead with a positive approach on the basis of our shared democratic values. Quad will work as a 'force for global good'. The cooperation in Quad will ensure peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region as well as the entire world. PM Modi highlighted the issue of getting access for Indian professionals to the US & mentioned H1B visa.
MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS OF THE QUAD SUMMIT
- Discussed Afghanistan and agreed to deepen their cooperation in South Asia.
- Quad Vaccine Initiative: Under this, the Quad countries have pledged to donate more than 1.2 billion Coid-19 vaccine doses globally, in addition to the doses financed through Covax.
- Building Back Better Health Security: Supported the call for a "global pandemic radar” to improve viral genomic surveillance and expand the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS).
- Tackling Climate Change: In this context, Quad countries have envisaged to establish Green-Shipping Network for deployment of green-port infrastructure. Clean-Hydrogen Partnership to strengthen and reduce costs across all elements of the clean-hydrogen technology, leveraging existing bilateral and multilateral hydrogen initiatives in other fora. Climate Adaptation, Resilience, and Preparedness for increasing the Indo-Pacific region’s resilience to climate change by improving critical climate information-sharing and disaster-resilient infrastructure.
- The Quad Fellowship: The President of the United States while hosting the first in-person Quad summit in the White House said that the four Quad nations- India, US, Australia, and Japan- are launching a new Quad fellowship for students from each of the Quad countries to pursue the advanced degrees in the leading stem programs here in the United States, representing an investment in the innovators, leaders, and pioneers of tomorrow.
PM MODI ADDRESSED UNGA DEBATE
Prime Minister Modi will visit the US for the summit and will also address the General-Debate of the High-Level Segment of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 25 in New York.The theme of this year’s UNGA debate is ‘Building resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalize the United Nations.’
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT QUAD SUMMIT IN THE US
The upcoming Quad summit in the US will be the first-ever in-person summit of four Quad leaders. It will be the second international trip of PM Modi after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He visited Bangladesh in 2021. The upcoming Quad summit will be the first in-person meeting between PM Modi and US President Joe Biden. This will be the first and last international event to be attended by the Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga. He recently announced that he will not run for the leadership election. The quad summit will also be the first high-level meetings between four major nations after Taliban take over Afghanistan.
ABOUT QUADRILATERAL SECURITY DIALOGUE (QUAD)
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a strategic dialogue between Japan, India, the US, and Australia. The significant dialogue between the four nations was initiated in 2007 by the then Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, US Vice President Dick Cheney, and the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh.The dialogue was ceased after the withdrawal of Australia during Kevin Rudd’s tenure as the Prime Minister. However, it was revived again during the 2017 ASEAN Summits, when the four leaders Narendra Modi, Shinzo Abe, Malcolm Turnbull, and Donald Trump agreed to revive the alliance. Quad, the diplomatic and military engagement, was widely viewed as a response to China’s growing economic and military power in the Indo-Pacific region.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN QUAD AND AUKUS
- QUAD: The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or QUAD is a strategic dialogue between four countries. These are the United States, India, Australia and The dialogue began in 2007 by the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe along with the US Vice President Dick Cheney, Australian PM John Howard and Indian PM Manmohan Singh. The military exercise associated with it was the Malabar exercise.
- AUKUS: AUKUS is a trilateral security alliance between the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. It was initiated on September 15, 2021. The pact would allow the US and UK to help Australia develop nuclear powered submarines and deploy them in the Pacific region. This would increase the presence of Western military in the Pacific. As of now no other country has been mentioned by the founding countries to be a party in this alliance and it is speculated that it may be a counter to China's increasing presence in the region.
CONCLUSION
The Quad nations need to better explain the Indo-Pacific Vision in an overarching framework with the objective of advancing everyone’s economic and security interests. This will reassure the littoral States that the Quad will be a factor for regional benefit, and a far cry from Chinese allegations that it is some sort of a military alliance. India has many other partners in the Indo-Pacific, therefore India should pitch for countries like Indonesia, Singapore to be invited to join in the future.
TEST YOURSELF
Q.1 Four countries have attended the first in-person Quad Summit, Each countries' delegation is led by their head of states. Which of the following is incorrect in the same context?
- India --- Prime Minister Narendra Modi
- Japan --- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: ANSWER
- Australia --- PM Scott Morrison
- USA --- President Joe Biden
Q.2 Consider the given statements & state which of the following is/are correct in the reference to the above mentioned passage?
- Quad leaders summit was structured on- COVID-19 response; Afghanistan & Regional Security; Tech & Cyber Security; and Climate.
- Four Quad nations- India, US, Australia, and Japan- are launching a new Quad fellowship for students from each of the Quad countries to pursue the advanced degrees in the leading stem programs in the United States.
- Only I follows
- Only II follows
- Both I & II follows: ANSWER
- None of the above
Q.3 Recently, which of the following nations have announced that the first in-person meeting of the Quad countries is going to be held where the heads of all the four countries (India, Japan, Australia, and the US) are going to attend the meeting?
- United States of America: ANSWER
- India
- Australia
- None of the above
Q.4 Which of the following would be the main focus of the leaders of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue during the virtual QUAD summit 2021?
- Exploring the opportunities for collaboration in ensuring equitable, safe as well as affordable vaccines in the Indo-Pacific region.
- To support the ongoing efforts to combat terrorism
- To restrain the power of China in the Indo-Pacific Region.
- None of the above
Q.5 Which of the following statements is/are incorrect in the reference to the above mentioned passage?
- Quad has come of age and will remain an important pillar of stability in the indo-pacific region.
- According to Joe Biden the main agenda of Quad Should be limiting the Iran's Dominance in the Middle East: ANSWER
- Prime Minister of Australia highlighted that Indo-Pacific will now shape the destiny of the world in the 21st century.
- None of the above
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