Biden declares Quad is ‘here to stay’
US President Joe Biden has showed off his Delaware hometown to the leaders of Australia, Japan and India as he hosts what is likely the last gathering of the Indo-Pacific partnership that has grown in prominence under his White House tenure.
When Biden began his presidency he looked to elevate the so-called Quad, which until then had only met at the foreign minister level, to a leader-level partnership as he tried to pivot US foreign policy away from conflicts in the Middle East and toward threats and opportunities in the Indo-Pacific.
This weekend’s summit is the fourth in-person and sixth overall gathering of the leaders since 2021.
“It will survive way beyond November,” Biden declared as the leaders gathered at the Archmere Academy, his high school alma mater in nearby Claymont for joint talks.
The president, who has admitted to an uneven track record as a scholar, also seemed tickled to get to host a gathering with three world leaders at the school he attended more than 60 years ago. He welcomed each of the leaders individually for one-on-one talks at his nearby home before they gathered at the school for talks and a formal dinner.
“I don’t think the headmaster of this school thought I’d be presiding over a meeting like this,” Biden joked to fellow leaders.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida came for the summit before their appearances at the UN General Assembly in New York next week.
White House officials said holding the talks at the president’s house, which sits near a pond in a wooded area several kilometres west of downtown, was intended to give the meetings a more relaxed feel.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan described the vibe of Biden’s one-on-one meeting with Albanese, who stopped by the house on Friday, as “two guys — one at the other guy’s home — talking in broad strokes about where they see the state of the world”.
He said Biden and Albanese also swapped stories about their political careers.
The Australian leader remarked that the visit had given him “insight into what in my view makes you such an extraordinary world leader”.
As part of the summit, the leaders are set to announce new initiatives to bolster maritime security in the region — with enhanced coast guard collaboration through the Pacific and Indian oceans — and improve co-operation on humanitarian response missions. The measures are meant to serve as a counterweight to an increasingly assertive China.
The gathering was also an opportunity for Biden and Japan’s Kishida to bid each other farewell.
Biden commended Kishida for demonstrating “courage and conviction in strengthening ties” with South Korea, according to the White House.
They also discussed China’s “coercive and destabilising activities” in the Pacific, Russia’s war against Ukraine and emerging technology issues.
The US and Japan are negotiating through a rare moment of tension in the relationship. Biden, as well as presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, have opposed a $US15 billion ($A22 billion) bid by Japan’s Nippon Steel to take over American-owned US Steel.
Biden administration officials indicated this week that a US government committee’s formal assessment of the proposed deal has yet to be submitted to the White House and may not come until after the November 5 election.
The Biden administration promised that the leaders would issue a joint statement containing the strongest-ever language on China and North Korea to be agreed upon by the four countries.
The White House said the leaders later on Saturday will rollout a new collaboration aimed at reducing cervical cancer in the Indo-Pacific.
The announcement is related to Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative, a long-running passion project of the president and his wife, Jill Biden, aimed at reducing cancer deaths.
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