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| ‘Quad’, a security council made up of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia, held a summit for the first time ever on the 12th (local time). © AFP=News1 |
‘Quad’, a security council made up of the U.S., Japan, India, and Australia, held a summit for the first time in history on the 12th (local time), and various fields such as new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccine, climate change, security, etc. Discussed the current issues.
In this meeting held by video, the leaders of the four countries agreed to form a working group in the field of vaccines and to hold a face-to-face summit by the end of this year, in addition to cooperating with each country to realize a’free and open Indo-Pacific’.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide participated in the talks, and we discussed related topics for about an hour and a half starting at around 10:30 pm on this day.
In a joint statement after the meeting, the Quad leaders said, “We strive for a region that is free, open, inclusive, but anchored by democratic values and not bound by coercion.” China was not mentioned directly, but the expression’area not bound by coercion’ seems to be aimed at China.
At the meeting, the four countries also confirmed their support for the rule of law, freedom of navigation and flight, peaceful settlement of disputes, democratic values, and territorial preservation principles. It also agreed to set up a working group in three areas of climate change, an important emerging technology with the Corona 19 vaccine and next-generation communication standards in mind.
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| © News1 Designer Lee Ji-won |
In addition, in accordance with the resolution of the UN Security Council regarding North Korea, it reaffirmed North Korea’s commitment to complete denuclearization and agreed to cooperate to cope with the challenges of maritime order based on international law, including the UN Convention on Maritime Law.
◇Establish a framework for vaccine cooperation… 1 billion batch production
The key to consensus is to build a framework for consistent cooperation from vaccine production to vaccination regimes. These contents were put on the fact sheet. It seems to be a step conscious of the’vaccine diplomacy’ that China is actively promoting.
By the end of 2022, the Indian pharmaceutical company Biological E will support the production of one billion doses of vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in the United States. The White House said the U.S. and Japan will provide loans to India on favorable terms, and Australia will provide an additional $77 million to support vaccinations in Southeast Asia.
High-tech advances cooperation in communication, such as maintenance of ‘5G’. The discussion of supply chain (supply chain) is also started. This seems to be a measure taking into account semiconductors and rare earths, which the United States said is highly dependent on China. In the field of climate change, GHG emissions are low, so technology development is promoted.