China has lashed out at the foreign ministers of Quad who will be meeting in Melbourne on February 10 and February 11 and has accused all the members including India of trying to drive wedges in the region and of having a Cold War Mentality.
On Wednesday, China lashed out at the Quad’s (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) Foreign Ministers meeting which is expected to be held in Melbourne from February 10 to 11. The nation has accused the members including India of driving wedges in the area. It had strongly opposed the Quad saying that the ‘bloc’ was trying to trigger a confrontation unlike China which stands for peace and development of the region.
The ministry was seen accusing the United States of trying to form “Blocs” and has also lashed out at them for attempting to force its style of democracy on the rest of the world. China had previously denounced the Quad citing it as a Cold War construct and has also called it a clique for targeting other nations.
The meeting will see the participation of the external affairs minister of India S Jaishankar who will be joined by his counterparts from Australia, Japan, and the United States of America. The meeting will be held under the Quad mechanism in Melbourne on February 10 and February 11 and the meeting is expected to set the agenda for the summit of the Quad leaders that will take place in Japan later this year. It will be the fourth such meeting at the ministerial level of the bloc of Indo-Pacific countries.
The four leaders had previously met in the September Summit which was attended by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. When the foreign ministry of China was asked to comment on the reports that stated that the summit would be discussing ways to counter China’s challenge, it lashed out at the Quad leaders targeting the United States specifically.
China’s Foreign Ministry’s Zhao Lijian said that the United States had long lost its reputation as a democratic nation. He added that the US was still forcing other countries to accept their style of democratic standards. He also said that the US was drawing a line along with their democratic values and putting small blocs which is a complete betrayal of the democratic values. He stated that they were against the exclusive blocs' formation to create bloc confrontation.
The Foreign Ministry of China said that they have been seeking peace, development, and cooperation in the region. They also want to advance the building of an Asia-Pacific security system that is inclusive, open, and one which does not target any third country.
The consensus in China currently is that the four nations that have come together for the Quad meeting will be countering Beijing’s rising influence and that all those countries will be flexing their diplomatic muscle in the already disputed area of the South China Sea along with the Indo-Pacific region.