Quad Leaders Denounce Use Of Terrorist Proxies, Commit To Promote Free, Open Indo-Pacific; To Collaborate On Infra, Space

The leaders of the Quad nations -- the US, Australia, Japan and India -- have denounced the use of terrorist proxies and demanded an end to support for terrorism.

"We denounce the use of terrorist proxies and emphasise the importance of denying any logistical, financial or military support to terrorist groups which could be used to launch or plan terror attacks, including cross-border attacks," said a joint statement adopted by Primes Minister Narendra Modi, Australiana PM Scott Morrison, Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga of Japan and US President Joe Biden after their summit on Friday (24 September).

The Quad leaders also decided to closely coordinate their diplomatic, economic, and human-rights policies towards Afghanistan and vowed to deepen their counter-terrorism and humanitarian cooperation in the war-torn country.

The leaders also committed to promote a free and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region.

"Together, we recommit to promoting the free, open, rules-based order, rooted in international law and undaunted by coercion, to bolster security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. We stand for the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values, and territorial integrity of states," the leaders said.

"We also recognise that our shared futures will be written in the Indo-Pacific, and we will redouble our efforts to ensure that the Quad is a force for regional peace, stability, security, and prosperity. Towards that end, we will continue to champion adherence to international law, particularly as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the East and South China Seas," they added.

To bring a measure of permanence to what has been an informal group, the four agreed to hold annual summits and meetings of Foreign Ministers in addition to regular sessions of senior officials.

Most of the defined actions proposed by the Quad leaders are about cooperation and helping themselves and others in the region.

Taking on the current challenge of the pandemic foremost, the declaration said: "Our partnership on Covid-19 response and relief marks an historic new focus for the Quad."

The leaders welcomed India's announcement to resume vaccine exports and the Indian company Biological E producing at least one billion safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine doses by the end of 2022, financed in part through Quad investments.

India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that the vaccine would be the Johnson & Johnson type, which requires only one shot.

Japan will provide finance for the distribution of the vaccines and Australia will buy jabs for distribution in the Southeast Asia region and also pay for their delivery, according to the joint statement.

The leaders said that they "will also strengthen our Science and Technology cooperation" in clinical trials and genomic surveillance to bring a quick end to the pandemic and also "conduct a joint pandemic-preparedness tabletop or exercise" in 2022.

They committed themselves to fight climate change by working towards zero net emissions by 2050 and increase their commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The leaders also agreed to pursue the deployment of clean-hydrogen technology, which is one of PM Modi's initiatives.

Several of the new initiatives are in technology, which had risks posed by China in the background.

"We have established cooperation on critical and emerging technologies, to ensure the way in which technology is designed, developed, governed, and used is shaped by our shared values and respect for universal human rights. In partnership with industry, we are advancing the deployment of secure, open, and transparent 5G and beyond-5G networks, and working with a range of partners to foster innovation and promote trustworthy vendors and approaches such as Open-RAN," the leaders said.

"We are mapping the supply chain of critical technologies and materials, including semiconductors, and affirm our positive commitment to resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains of critical technologies," the leader said in the joint statement.

"We are monitoring trends in the critical and emerging technologies of the future, beginning with biotechnology, and identifying related opportunities for cooperation," they said.

With the co-sponsorship of the major companies, they announced 100 Quad Fellowships in STEM subjects for graduate students, the declaration said.

The leaders said that they will also cooperate in cyber space and pledged to work together to combat cyber threats, promote resilience, and secure their critical infrastructure.

"In space, we will identify new collaboration opportunities and share satellite data for peaceful purposes such as monitoring climate change, disaster response and preparedness, sustainable uses of oceans and marine resources, and on responding to challenges in shared domains," the leaders said.

"We will also consult on rules, norms, guidelines and principles for ensuring the sustainable use of outer space," they added.

They also said that they were launching a new Quad infrastructure partnership that will map the region's infrastructure needs, and coordinate on regional needs and opportunities, the declaration added.