Wong and Quad counterparts raise 'grave concerns' over economic coercion
Quad foreign ministers met in Atlanta without naming China, as Marco Rubio said the group is not an "anti-China" coalition.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her counterparts from the United States, India and Japan have voiced "grave concerns" about economic coercion, including arbitrary export restrictions, in a joint statement issued in Atlanta on Saturday.
The four Quad ministers, Wong, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, met early on Saturday on the sidelines of a G20 foreign ministers' meeting hosted by Rubio, The Hindu reported. NDTV also reported the meeting, describing the statement as a reaffirmation of the group's commitment to a free Indo-Pacific.
The statement also criticised "non-market policies and practices that result in overcapacity", which the ministers said disrupt global supply chains in critical industries.
No country was named. The Hindu said the criticisms are ones often directed at China, which has faced accusations of relying too heavily on exports to drive growth, and that the reference to export restrictions was likely aimed at Beijing's tight controls on rare earths. China, which views the Quad with suspicion, has pushed back against the overcapacity accusations, the paper said.
Rubio rejected the idea that the grouping was directed at Beijing. "It is not an anti-China or anti-anybody coalition," he told a press conference in Atlanta, according to the South China Morning Post.
The ministers also addressed shipping. Their statement recognised the "importance of critical sea lanes, the uninterrupted flow of commerce, energy security, and the unhindered passage and safety of maritime crews and vessels without the imposition of tolls". It called for "the absolute necessity to protect and preserve navigational rights and freedoms in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait", The Hindu reported.
The South China Morning Post said the ministers used the meeting to finalise preparations for a Quad leaders' summit in the Philippines next month, the first in two years. That summit comes weeks before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Shenzhen, the paper reported.
Sources: The Hindu, Quad ministers express ‘grave concerns’ over economic coercion; South China Morning Post, Quad not ‘anti-China’, says Rubio as first summit in two years set before Trump-Xi talks; NDTV, Quad Foreign Ministers Reaffirm Committment To Free Indo-Pacific: Statement.
