'Should shake off their Cold-War mentality': China on Quad summit

Beijing, Mar 16: China on Monday said that the four-member Quad "should shake off their Cold-War mentality and ideological prejudice, refrain from forming closed and exclusive small circles". Beijing also described the Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, as a clique based on an ideology which, it said, “detrimental to the international order”.

 

 

 

The Quad, comprising India, the US, Australia, and Japan, has been revitalised following the grouping’s first and high-profile top leader-level online summit last Friday.

 

The summit, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison, US President Joe Biden and Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, was closely monitored and critiqued by Beijing. The four countries came together specifically to counter China’s increasing influence and muscle-flexing in the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific region.

 

 

When asked to respond, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the China threat is exaggerated. "For quite some time, certain countries have been so keen to exaggerate and hype up the so-called "China threat" to sow discord among regional countries, especially to disrupt their relations with China," Zhao said at the regular ministry briefing on Monday.

 

 

 

Zhao added, "Their actions, running counter to the trend of the times of peace, development and cooperation and the common aspirations of the countries and peoples in the region, will not be welcomed or succeed."

 

Zhao said that state-to-state exchanges and cooperation should be conducive for improving mutual understanding and trust among the countries and should not be targeted against and undermine the interests of third parties.

 

 

Further, he added, "Certain countries should shake off their Cold-War mentality and ideological prejudice, refrain from forming closed and exclusive small circles, and do more things that are conducive to solidarity and cooperation among regional countries and regional peace and stability."

 

It should be noted that China has shifted its response to Quad from diplomatic to calling it as a "security threat" specifically from State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s statements. In 2018, Wang had said, “They are like the seafoam in the Pacific or the Indian Ocean: they may get some attention, but soon will dissipate”. By 2020, Wang came around to acknowledging that the Quad had become a “security threat” and a so-called Indo-Pacific “New NATO”.