‘China testing us all’: Joe Biden caught on mic telling QUAD leaders

Biden’s opening remarks was caught on the hot mic as a pool of reporters were leaving the summit venue. Chinese President Xi Jinping is “looking to buy himself some diplomatic space, in my view, to aggressively pursue China’s interest,” he was heard saying.

The 81-year-old leader added that China continues to “behave aggressively, testing us all across the region on several fronts, including on economic and technology issues”. Biden emphasised that the QUAD nations believe that this requires intense diplomacy in times of intense competition.

The US President’s remarks came during the QUAD summit on Saturday, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

A senior official from the US administration sought to downplay these remarks by the outgoing US President. He said that there is no need to elaborate on those remarks as it was consistent with what the US has said before. “I don’t think it’ll be much of a surprise that our inside voice matches our outside voice,” the official said.

He also sought to explain that the QUAD nations were not obsessed with China alone, and there were a number of topics on the agenda. “I think it’s not surprising that China would have been on the agenda. It’s an Indo-Pacific convening. This is an Indo-Pacific partnership. China is a major country in the Indo-Pacific. But I think it’s also fair to say that there were a number of other topics on the agenda,” the official explained.

China’s stakes in IOR

In a veiled reference to Beijing’s aggressive military actions in the South China Sea, QUAD nations have continued to emphasise on their commitment to uphold a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region.

China is engaged in territorial disputed in both South China Sea and East China Sea regions. It had proposed a “nine-dash-line” theory in the South China Sea to claim sovereignty over all areas where Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims.

Beijing had dubbed the QUAD as Asian version of NATO, a military alliance in Europe, whose sole aim is to contain its rise in Asia.

(With PTI inputs)