It was strong stuff from a group that has historically not been given to criticising one of its largest trading partners for most of the past decade.
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There are two factors at play here. Australia, the US, Japan and India have diverse interests, but on one issue they agree: managing the rise of China. This grouping has driven awareness of Beijing’s economic coercion, militarisation, human rights abuses and territorial ambitions informally since 2018 and formally since 2021.
Australia did this first by weaponising the release of China’s 14 grievances, first reported by this masthead and Nine News in 2020, at the G7 in Cornwall in 2021.
The campaign has now reached saturation point as Europe, Canada and other partners now have similar experiences with Beijing. That, along with China’s neutrality over the war in Ukraine, has transformed Beijing’s ambitions from something that was an important but niche issue for far-flung governments in Europe and North America into a critical area of interest, driving an entire section on China in Saturday’s G7 statement.
At the same time, the Quad, a once fledgling group of four, has found relative safety in numbers. It has become too easy for Beijing to dismiss the Quad as an exclusive clique, because it is. The G7, while still an elite gathering, shows the concerns the Quad has made known are widely held, making it harder for the Chinese government to target every one of the world’s largest economies for retribution.
The Quad is also sensitive to Beijing’s criticism that it is another grouping of large economies that will sideline other regional forums. China has been on a relentless campaign to convince developing countries that it has a better model for economic development. South-East Asia, the Pacific islands, Latin America and Africa are all targets because they rightly feel disenfranchised by a global economy in which the G7 has soared while others struggle.
Anthony Albanese arriving for a press conference at the G7 on Sunday morning. Credit: Christopher Jue
That’s why the language in the Quad’s vision statement on what are otherwise abstract regional bodies is important. On Saturday, the Quad said it would respect the leadership and centrality of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, the Pacific Islands Forum, and the Indian Ocean Rim Association. “[They] will remain at the centre of the Quad’s efforts,” the leaders said. Then they announced, without naming China, new funding for infrastructure development, telecommunications networks and undersea cables – all areas of national security influence that are being targeted by Beijing.
For US, Australian, Indian and Japanese officials, a token reference to China would have allowed Beijing to dismiss the meeting as another push to contain it.
The Chinese government probably still will. But by leaving it unmentioned, the Quad nations believe they can convince these regional leaders that it cares about their futures beyond the prism of geopolitical competition.
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