The first in-person Quad Summit, which is scheduled to take place in Washington on September 24, will cap a tumultuous year for both United States and India in terms of if their relations and response to China and its policies. Hosted by Joe Biden, the Quad meet is likely to discuss China’s growing escalation in the Indo-Pacific region, its policies and human rights violations, the coronavirus pandemic and India-China border standoffs.

Quad Summit: China’s view on the diplomatic grouping

Two of the most integral Quad allies, India and the US share conflicting bilateral ties with China for varying reasons. This is likely to take center stage at this Quad Summit. In fact, China despite being a non-Quad country has been a prime focus of the alliance, though none of the members ever directly mentioned it. 

Why Indo-China conflicts will mould Quad conversation

Presently, India’s relations with China remain quite strained. The prime reason behind it is China’s escalation in the Galwan Valley and the events that unfolded later. The intrusion led to a standoff between the Chinese and Indian armies, in which 20 Indian troops were killed. At the time, the US Senate condemned China’s aggression against India.

Similarly, the collective frustration in connection with the coronavirus outbreak and China’s alleged role is likely to be a key discussion.

Why US-China ties will dominate Quad discussions?

US-China ties too deteriorated adversely, especially during the Donald Trump regime after he launched scathing attacks on China for “deliberately pushing COVID-19 across the world”.  Since then, the ties have taken a turn for the worst.

Soon after the US presidential elections, the Biden administration openly condemned China for alleged human rights violations in Hong Kong and their alleged involvement in the Myanmar coup and violence that followed.

The ties worsened when the US released a report on the coronavirus outbreak alleging that China is not cooperating in the probe and also the US’ push to WHO for conducting another investigation on the origin of the virus.

Recently, the US with Australia and the United Kingdom signed an Indo-Pacific security pact to counter China in the wake of its increasing military muscle-flexing, a move that was dubbed as ‘cold-war mentality’ by Beijing.

Quad, which includes almost all the nations in tiff with China, especially the US and India, is likely to see some strong discussion as China hails as a “great power” and that being a great power means you can use that strength in any way you deem fit.

Meanwhile, Quad has been a diplomatic pressure point for China since its inception.

In a statement released earlier this month, Beijing said that the Quad alliance — consisting of the United States, India, Japan and Australia — has been created to target China. The statement added that such groupings will not be popular and have no future.