The president of the United States considered this Tuesday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine “demonstrates the importance” of maintaining a “free and open” Indo-Pacific, at the beginning of the Quad group meeting in Tokyo.
“We live in dark times of our shared history”Joe Biden told the leaders of Japan, India and Australia at Kantei, the official residence of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Advocating for a “free, open, connected, secure and resilient” Indo-Pacific takes on more meaning in the current context, he said.
“As Russia continues this war, we will be partners and lead a global response,” Biden added, noting that “This is more than a European problem, it is a global problem”.
Biden, who is in the final stretch of a three-day visit to Japan as part of his first trip to Asia, met with Kishida and the prime ministers of India and Australia, Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese, respectively.
“We cannot allow something like this to happen in the Indo-Pacific”Kishida said, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The host of the meeting asked the group for a “strong commitment” on this and other issues such as climate change, maritime safety and technology.
Albanese, who was sworn in on Monday after winning the Australian general election over the weekend, said Canberra “is committed to the Quad” as well as common projects and goals.
Modi described the group as “a force for good” and praised the work of the Quad, which “is ensuring peace, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific region”.
On Monday, Biden said the United States would intervene militarily if China invaded Taiwan, in one of the strongest and most outspoken statements of support for Taipei by a White House leader in decades.
Without “strategic ambiguity”, Joe Biden confirms that the US military would defend Taiwan if China attacked
Joe Biden said the obligation to protect the island had become “even stronger” in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “This is a commitment that we have made,” the US head of state told a news conference in Tokyo.
For the US president, the use of force by China against Taiwan “would simply not be appropriate” and “would change the entire region”, constituting an event similar to what happened in Ukraine.
Source: Observadora
