Beijing. China’s state media on Sunday accused the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) of adopting a “divide and rule” strategy to sow differences between Beijing and its neighbours. This allegation came a day after the four-member group decided to expand the Indo-Pacific Partnership at a summit. The Quad leaders’ summit hosted by US President Joe Biden was held on Saturday in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attended it.
China’s state media said the conference focused on strategies to contain China. Although China’s Foreign Ministry has not yet reacted to the summit, Hong Kong’s ‘South China Morning Post’ said in its report that in any sense, the Quad summit marks a significant change for the four-nation framework during its 17-year history.
The editorial in the state-run newspaper ‘China Daily’ said, “The Biden administration made great efforts to explain how the Quad has met the priorities of its partners in the ‘Indo-Pacific’ region.” The editorial released here late Sunday evening said, “Although there is no mention of China in the joint statement of the four leaders or the summit fact sheet, China was mentioned at least 20 times in the half-hour press conference held by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan after the conclusion of the summit.
It said, “Although the US blames China for the growing tension in the Asia-Pacific region, all regional countries, including the other three members of the Quad, are well aware that the main reason for this is the US’s implementation of a ‘divide and rule’ strategy in the region, under which it is taking every possible measure to create differences between China and its neighbours.” It said that in this process, Washington has realised that the Quad cannot include the other three member countries nor can it attract other regional countries, as all of them have close and extensive trade, economic and cultural ties with China.
