US President Joe Biden will host a summit with leaders of the QUAD countries later this year. The Quad, a group of democratic countries, includes India, the US, Japan and Australia. Although the date of this meeting has not been officially revealed yet. This will be the first meeting when the leaders of the Quad countries will meet in person.
This will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first in-person interaction with President Biden. Kurt Campbell, the US coordinator for the Indo-Pacific region, made the announcement related to this meeting during an event organized by the Asia Society think-tank on Tuesday. Campbell on Tuesday said that the meeting will bring a 'decisive' commitment to vaccine diplomacy and infrastructure. However, it is not yet clear whether this summit can be linked with the bilateral relationship between India and the US.
In the previous summit, the Quad countries had pledged to distribute one billion Johnson & Johnson doses in 2022 among the Indo-Pacific countries. Campbell said the project is on track despite the rise in COVID-19 cases in India. On the other hand, the Quad members have pledged to uphold the rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific amid growing Chinese assertiveness in their region.
Earlier, the leaders of four countries met virtually in the month of March. Disturbed by the meeting, China had said that if the Quad does not end its antitrust bias and cold war mentality. It will end without any consequences and will not get any support. Beijing had called the Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue a faction based on an ideology, and termed it as "detrimental to the international order".
