Quad to expand maritime security cooperation

WILMINGTON, Delaware: Leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States will announce plans for new security initiatives in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, when outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden hosts counterparts from the Quad grouping established due to shared concerns about China.

Biden will welcome Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a four-way meeting near his hometown of Wilmington to stress the importance of maintaining the Quad, which he sees as a signature foreign policy achievement, before he leaves office after the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.

Senior Biden administration officials told reporters the leaders would announce plans to expand an Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness launched two years ago to include the Indian Ocean region.

The leaders will announce a plan for joint coast guard operations that will see Australian, Japanese and Indian personnel spend time on a U.S. coast guard vessel. The countries will also announce plans for increased military logistics cooperation, the officials said.

They said the leaders will step up work to provide critical and security technologies, including a new open radio access network, to the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia, regions of intense competition with China, Washington’s main strategic competitor. A health initiative will highlight cooperation in combating cervical cancer, the officials said.

The official noted that the Quad met at foreign minister level under the previous administration of Donald Trump, who is running against Vice President Kamala Harris in November, and enjoyed bipartisan support, as reflected by the formation of a congressional Quad Caucus ahead of the summit.

Albanese told reporters on Thursday Canberra and Washington share concerns about China’s security ambitions in Pacific Islands countries where Beijing is seeking a growing policing role.