U.S., India, Japan and Australia counter China with billion-dose vaccine pact

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and three of its closest Indo-Pacific partners committed to supplying up to a billion coronavirus vaccine doses across Asia by the end of 2022 on Friday at a meeting carefully choreographed to counter China’s growing influence in the region.

U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of Australia, India and Japan – countries together known as the Quad – pledged at their first summit to forge a free and open Indo-Pacific, including cooperation on maritime, cyber and economic security, all issues vital to the four democracies in the face of challenges from Beijing.

“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 told his counterparts, without naming China.

His national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, framed the virtual summit as a big day for U.S. diplomacy, as the U.S. looks to revitalize its alliances and approach Beijing from a position of strength ahead of a senior-level U.S.-China meeting in Alaska next week.

“The four leaders did discuss the challenge posed by China, and they made clear that none of them have any illusions about China,” Sullivan told reporters later, adding that they all believed democracy could outcompete “autocracy.”

Freedom of navigation in the South and East China Sea, recent cyberattacks, and semi-conductor supply-chain security, were discussed, Sullivan said, though he added that the main focus was not on China.

The North Korean nuclear issue, and the coup and “violent repression” in Myanmar, were also raised, he said.

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In a joint statement the leaders – including Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison – pledged to work closely on COVID-19 vaccine distribution, climate issues and security.

“We strive for a region that is free, open, inclusive, healthy, anchored by democratic  values, and unconstrained by coercion,” they added.

The leaders agreed to set up a group of experts to help distribute vaccines, as well as working groups for climate change, technology standards, and joint development of emerging technologies. An in-person meeting would be held later this year, they said in the statement.

‘NEW LEVEL OF COOPERATION’

Suga told reporters he had expressed strong opposition to attempts by China to change the status quo in the region, and Modi told the session the Quad had “come of age” and would “now remain an important pillar of stability in the region.”

Morrison called the meeting “a whole new level of cooperation to create a new anchor for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”

Confronting China has been a rare area of agreement for Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress. The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, said in a statement he was pleased.

India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said the meeting had agreed U.S. vaccines would be manufactured in India, something New Delhi has called for to counter Beijing’s widening vaccine diplomacy.

A fact sheet issued after the meeting said the United States, through its International Development Finance Corp, would work to finance Indian drugmaker Biological E Ltd to produce at least 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end of 2022.

It also said Japan was in discussions to provide concessional yen loans for India to expand manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines for export.

The Biden administration told Reuters on Tuesday the United States and Japan would help fund Indian firms manufacturing vaccines for U.S. drugmakers Novavax Inc and J&J.

‘INIMICAL TO OUR VALUES’

India, Australia and Japan have all faced security challenges from China, strengthening their interest in the Quad, whose cooperation dates back to their joint response to the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in 2004.

The group was revived under the Trump administration, which saw it as a vehicle to push back against China. The United States hosted a foreign ministers’ meeting in 2019, which was followed by another in Japan last year and a virtual session in February.

Friday’s meeting coincided with a major U.S. diplomatic drive to solidify alliances in Asia and Europe to counter China, including visits next week by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Japan and South Korea.

On his return from Asia, Blinken will stop in Alaska to meet China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, and State Councillor Wang Yi – the first high-level in-person contact between the world’s two largest economies under the Biden administration.

Washington has said it will not hold back in its criticism of Beijing over issues ranging from Taiwan to Hong Kong and the genocide it says China is committing against minority Muslims.

In his briefing to reporters, Sullivan, who will attend the meeting with the Chinese officials, said he did not expect details on U.S. tariffs or export controls to be major topics of the talks.

“We will communicate that the United States is going to take steps in terms of what we do on technology to ensure that our technology is not used in ways that are inimical to our values or adverse to our security,” he said.

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