‘Quad summit makes Indo-Pacific better,’ says PM Modi at Tokyo summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of the United States, Japan and Australia attended the second in-person meeting of Quad leaders in Tokyo on Tuesday. PM Modi, in his opening remarks said the mutual trust, and determination of the member countries is giving new energy and enthusiasm to democratic powers.

Besides PM Modi, US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australia’s newly-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are participating in the Quad summit.

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PM Modi will also hold separate bilateral meetings with Biden, Kishida and Albanese on the sidelines of the summit.

In an op-ed published in a leading Japanese newspaper on Monday, PM Modi said that India and Japan will contribute towards building an open, free and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, connected by secure seas, integrated by trade and investment, defined by respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity and anchored in international law.

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The Indian prime minister is in Japan on a two-day visit to attend a summit of the Quad leaders at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, penned an op-ed on the vibrant relations between India and Japan in the Yomiuri Shimbun.

“As two democracies, strategically located in the Indo-Pacific region, we can be important pillars of a stable and secure region. That is why our partnership is expanding across a broad range of areas,” the Indian PM said. 

Also read: India, Japan will contribute to building open, inclusive Indo-Pacific region: PM Modi in op-ed

Experts, however, are of the opinion that the Quad formation is an attempt to counter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific region where it has territorial disputes with several countries.

In 2017, when the US, Japan, Australia, and India first resuscitated their informal dialogue from a decade-long hiatus, China was sure it would soon fail.