India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has dismissed China’s vehement opposition to the Quad which sees this organisation as a grouping to “smear, oppress and contain China’s development”.

However, Jaishshankar said that the Quad is a grouping that will do “positive things” and contribute to the prosperity and stability of the strategic Indo-Pacific region, and criticising it repeatedly will not make the four-nation grouping less credible.

Jaishankar who just met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japan’s Yoshimasa Hayashi and Australia’s Marise Payne – on Friday vowed to expand cooperation to keep the Indo-Pacific free from “coercion” and as China is getting more assertive and aggressive in the Indo-Pacific region.

“All four of us yesterday, the two of us and Blinken and Hayashi, as well, made that point that we are here to do positive things. We are here to contribute to the peace, prosperity, and stability of the region,” Jaishankar said while speaking at a joint press conference along with his Australian counterpart here.

“Our record and our actions and stances is fairly clear and by criticising it repeatedly, it doesn’t make us less credible,” he asserted.

China has territorial disputes with almost all its neighbors but for the last few years, it has been trying very hard to break into the Indo-Pacific region and it views Quad as an alliance that is anti-China and called the Quad alliance between the US, India, Australia, and Japan as a “tool” to contain China’s rise and to maintain American hegemony.

“China believes that the so-called Quad group cobbled together by the US, Japan, India and Australia is essentially a tool for containing and besieging China to maintain US hegemony. It aims to stoke confrontation and undermine international solidarity and cooperation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said in Beijing in response to a question on the Quad grouping.

“I want to stress that as the Cold War is long over, the attempt to forge a so-called alliance to contain China wins no support and leads nowhere,” he said.

Australian foriegn minister Payne said the Quad is “not against anything and “We’re about building, about building confidence and resilience, about promoting a region in which all countries are able to be and feel sovereign and secure without the threat of coercion or intimidation. We have a really practical agenda, which as evidenced by our support of access to vaccines, indeed over 500 million vaccines delivered under the Quad leaders commitments on vaccination.

“And it is all about helping to positively shape our region as indeed it develops and grows, and Australia has welcomed the development and growth of China over the years. But we have always said that we will also act in protection of our national interests as any sovereign nation would,” the minister said.

The need for the Quad which was in the working for many years emerged to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence, amidst China’s growing military presence in the strategic region.

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Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar told his Sri Lankan counterpart GL Peiris who is on a three-day visit to India that the island nation’s Tamil minority are an important part of Sri Lanka and the Lankan government must ensure equality and justice for the community.

Jaishankar raised the matter with Peiris, who is working very closely to improve bilateral relations. Peiris’ first visit to India in his current term followed several steps by New Delhi to help Colombo cope with a severe economic crisis.

“Recalling the positive impact of India’s developmental and rehabilitation support, [Jaishankar] emphasised that Sri Lanka’s interests are best served by ensuring equality, justice, peace and respect for the Tamil people within a united Sri Lanka. Devolution of power is an important aspect of this process,” the external affairs ministry said in a statement.

“Both sides reiterated the longstanding consensus to handle fishermen issue through humanitarian approach and refrain from the use of violence in dealing with incidents along the IMBL (international maritime boundary line). They agreed that bilateral mechanisms should meet early, starting with the joint working group on fisheries,” the statement said.

India has always had the best interests of Tamils in Sri Lanka and raised the issue of devolution of powers to Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority as part of efforts to address the situation after the long civil war came to an end the island nation.

Peiris told HT his country is looking to address this matter through a new Constitution being drafted and said any solution to this issue should be “implementable on the ground” backed up by national consensus.

India recently extended a $500-million line of credit to Sri Lanka to help purchase fuel as it is reeling under a foreign exchange and energy crisis. 

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India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday (November 26), said any serious connectivity initiative with regards to China’s Belt and Road Initiative must be based upon consultative, transparent, and participatory, and conform to principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Jaishankar was addressing the 20th Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of Government, and he said, India is an emerging economic force at the global level despite the economic devastation caused by COVID-19, and India’s strong response in fighting the pandemic and ensuring economic stability must be noted and greater connectivity is an economic force-multiplier which has acquired greater salience in the post-Covid era.

“However, any serious connectivity initiative must be consultative, transparent, and participatory. It must conform to the most basic principle of international law – respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Jaishankar said.

“We have also proposed to include the Chabahar port in the framework of International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). I would like to reaffirm India’s commitment to cooperate, plan, invest and build physical and digital connectivity in the SCO region,” he said.

“This is the time to bring in much-needed reforms to our global institutions, including the WHO, and rework our development strategies to face a post-COVID-19 world. For this, we need a Reformed and Reinvigorated Multilateralism that reflects today’s realities, which gives voice to all stakeholders, addresses contemporary challenges and puts human beings at the center of our thought and policies,” he said.

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In what some experts are calling the new Quad of Middle East, the first meeting of the foreign ministers of India, Israel, the US and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has decided to establish an international forum for economic cooperation and discussed joint infrastructure projects in transportation and technology.

The meeting was held to expand economic and political cooperation in the Middle East and Asia and to enhance maritime security.

From India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid from Jerusalem, US secretary of state Antony Blinken from Washington and UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan from Abu Dhabi took part in this important meeting. 

In a tweet, Jaishankar described the discussions as “fruitful” and said foreign ministers Yair Lapid,  Antony Blinken, and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan had agreed on a speedy follow-up. The Israeli foreign ministry said the four ministers intended to hold an in-person meeting at Expo 2020 in Dubai in the coming months.

A fruitful first meeting with Israeli APM and FM @YairLapid, UAE FM @ABZayed and US Secretary of State @SecBlinken this evening.

Discussed working together more closely on economic growth and global issues. Agreed on expeditious follow-up. pic.twitter.com/kVgFM0r6hs

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) October 18, 2021

“Discussed working together more closely on economic growth and global issues. Agreed on expeditious follow-up,” Jaishankar said.

Blinken tweeted and said that in his meeting with the Indian, Israeli and the UAE foreign ministers was focused on “shared issues of concern in the region and globally, and the importance of expanding our economic and political collaboration”.

Today, I met with Israeli Foreign Minister @yairlapid, Indian Foreign Minister @DrSJaishankar, and Emirati Foreign Minister @ABZayed about shared issues of concern in the region and globally, and the importance of expanding our economic and political collaboration. pic.twitter.com/imEIM1Cv5d

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 18, 2021

Lapid, who initiated the process for the meeting during a recent visit to Washington, said at the start of the meeting: “Around this virtual table – there is a unique set of capabilities, knowledge, and experience that can be used to create the network that we all want to see created.”

Going forward if these four countries work more closely it will help them work developing on infrastructure, transport, maritime security, and other issues, he said.

The key to success is moving from a “government-to-government” approach to a “business-to-business” approach and turning the initiative into a “working process that will put boots on the ground, changing infrastructure around the world”, Lapid added.

Only last year, UAE established full diplomatic relations with the state of Isreal under the Abraham Accords to bring peace and stability in the Middle East.

However, it seems that the Quad of the Middle East is progressing much faster as each country has agreed to appoint senior professionals to a joint working group that will formulate options for cooperation.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement that the foreign ministers had “discussed expanding economic and political cooperation in the Middle East and Asia, including through trade, combating climate change, energy cooperation, and increasing maritime security”.

The ministers also discussed more people-to-people ties in technology and science, and ways to support global public health in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Blinken reiterated the Biden administration’s “support for the Abraham Accords and normalisation agreements and discussed future opportunities for collaboration in the region and globally”, Price said.

India, Israel and the UAE have already stepped up trilateral cooperation, especially in trade and investment, since the US-brokered the Abraham Accords in August 2020.

A statement issued at the time by the Israeli embassy in New Delhi said the Abraham Accords agreement between Israel and the UAE had “paved the way for friendships and business partnerships across the region”. The statement added: “India being a friend of both the UAE and Israel is clearly the preferred partner to leverage the global potential of the UAE, Israel and India trilateral.”

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