Quad meeting with PM Modi, US President Biden, Australia's Albanese, Japan's Kishida called off

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced that the scheduled Quad leaders meeting in Sydney will not proceed as planned. The announcement follows US President Joe Biden's cancellation of his visit to Australia. Instead, the leaders of Australia, the United States, India, and Japan will convene at the G7 Summit in Japan this weekend.

President Biden recently declared that he would postpone his visit to Australia, as well as his trip to Papua New Guinea. The decision was made due to ongoing uncertainties and intense negotiations with the opposition Republican party to prevent a potential default on the United States' debt, which would mark a historic event.

“The Quad leaders' meeting will not be going ahead in Sydney next week,” Albanese said in Tweed Heads, a town in New South Wales.

Albanese says it's still possible that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sydney next week, ABC News reported.

President Biden has shifted his focus to domestic affairs, engaging in negotiations with Republicans to avert a potential US debt default by the end of the month. 

As this matter holds significant consequences for the American economy, with potential ripple effects on a global scale, it is understandable that Biden has prioritized resolving this issue, according to remarks made by Albanese.

Furthermore, the Australian PM acknowledged Biden's disappointment regarding his inability to visit Australia, instead proposing that the Quad leaders convene during the G7 leaders meeting in Hiroshima.

Albanese said that all four leaders, namely President Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and himself, would be attending the G7 summit in Hiroshima over the weekend. 

There are efforts being made to arrange a meeting among the leaders during this time, with the individual expressing their intention to have a bilateral discussion with President Biden. However, no specific time has been confirmed for this arrangement at the present stage.

According to him, it was still possible that Prime Minister Modi and PM Kishida would visit Sydney next week, but officials in all three countries were still trying to confirm their plans.

"We are in discussions with the Quad leaders over today. We'll make further announcements about that, but Prime Minister Modi would certainly be a very welcome guest here next week," he said.

In November 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the "Quad" to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence amid China's aggressive behaviour in the region.

China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. Beijing has also made substantial progress in militarising its man-made islands in the past few years.

Beijing claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea. But Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims. In the East China Sea, China has territorial disputes with Japan.

(With agency inputs)