Foreign ministers from the so-called Quad group, the alliance made up of Japan, the United States, Australia and India, denounced Russia's threat to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine as "unacceptable", according to a joint statement released after meeting this Friday in New Delhi.
Late last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Russia's participation in New Start, the landmark nuclear arms control treaty with the United States, and threatened to resume nuclear tests.
"If we allow Russia to do what it is doing in Ukraine with impunity, we will be sending a message to would-be aggressors around the world that they too can get away with it," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced.
Blinken met with his counterparts from the countries of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known by the English abbreviation Quad, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, in which the ministers have exchanged reproaches and have failed to agree on a joint complaint against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Quad group also opposed any unilateral action to escalate tensions in the South China Sea, expressing concern over the "militarization" of disputed territories, "the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militias, and efforts to disrupt another country's offshore resource exploitation activities," in a thinly veiled reference to China.
For several years, Washington and Beijing have increased military maneuvers in the South China Sea, a key route in world maritime trade, among the richest in underwater resources and biodiversity. The area is almost entirely claimed by China, which is disputed by several neighboring countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam, who want to control certain parts of it.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stressed that the quartet agreed on the creation of a working group on counter-terrorism, as well as further collaboration between the Quad and the Indian Ocean Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), as positive elements of the meeting.
The Japanese foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, asked about Beijing, pointed out that China has no reason to fear the Quad, because "it is not a military organization, but a practical cooperation from which we do not try to exclude anyone."
Today's meeting comes a day after the G20 foreign ministers met in the Indian capital, a meeting that was marked by division between the United States, with its Western allies, and Russia over the war in Ukraine. The friction between Washington and Beijing also captured much of the attention at the ministerial meeting held yesterday.
The Quad, for its part, has focused on reaffirming the commitment of these four countries to a rules-based international order, and on defending a "free and open Indo-Pacific", as the group calls its strategy to counter the geopolitical rise. of China in the region.
The Quad was launched by the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as an alliance of democracies. It is frowned upon by China as it is perceived as a US tool to curb its influence in the region. But its members deny any hostile intent and stress that this is not a military alliance but cooperation in areas such as vaccine production and disaster relief coordination.
