TOKYO, Japan: The foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, Australia, and India expressed “serious concern” on Monday over the escalating tensions in the South China Sea, issuing a joint statement during talks in Tokyo.
The meeting of the so-called Quad group—US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong—underscored their commitment to a “free and open” Pacific.
While the statement did not directly name China, it alluded to recent confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the disputed South China Sea. The ministers voiced their opposition to “any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion” and expressed concern over the militarization and intimidating maneuvers in the region.
The Quad also condemned North Korea’s missile launches, which they described as destabilizing. This meeting marked the first Quad talks since September, occurring amid Blinken’s broader tour of Asia-Pacific nations aimed at bolstering regional cooperation in response to China’s increasing assertiveness and its strengthening alliance with Russia.
The joint statement from the Quad was noticeably more restrained compared to a communique issued a day earlier by Blinken, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, and their Japanese counterparts.
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The earlier communique explicitly criticized both China and Russia, accusing Beijing of attempting to reshape the international order for its own benefit and condemning Russia’s military cooperation with China and its procurement of missiles from North Korea for use in Ukraine.
This direct criticism of Russia poses a diplomatic challenge for India, which maintains strong defence ties with Russia. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, highlighting the complex diplomatic balance India must navigate.
The Philippines, the next stop on Blinken and Austin’s tour, remains embroiled in a territorial dispute with China over parts of the South China Sea. The conflict has raised concerns that the United States, as an ally of the Philippines, could be drawn into a broader confrontation as China intensifies its claims over nearly the entire waterway, a critical global trade route.
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In a post-talks briefing, Blinken highlighted the Quad’s efforts to ensure a secure and open Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean region through enhanced maritime security and awareness. Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa reiterated the Quad’s commitment to international cooperation for mutual prosperity.
Ahead of the talks, Bec Strating, a professor of international relations at La Trobe University, noted that while the Quad’s willingness to collaborate on defence and foreign policy issues positions them as a preferred partner in the region compared to China, global issues like the Ukraine war reveal underlying divergences within the group. This suggests that the Quad nations are not as uniformly aligned as their public statements might indicate.
