Quad summit to announce joint coast guard exercises, other initiatives

The U.S. Coast Guard will welcome Indian, Australian and Japanese coast guards on board its vessel in the Indo Pacific, with other countries then taking turns to host, a Biden administration official said.

A Coast Guard exercise and an initiative to fight cancer will be among the new projects announced at the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) on Saturday (September 21, 2024), when U.S. President Joe Biden hosts Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leaders of Australia and Japan.

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The U.S. Coast Guard will welcome Indian, Australian and Japanese coast guards on board its vessel in the Indo Pacific, with other countries then taking turns to host, a Biden administration official said, during a briefing call with reporters on Friday (September 20, 2024).

In the context of China, the briefing official emphasized that the Quad continues to be defined “as a partnership, not a military alliance of any kind”. Earlier this week, White House spokesperson John Kirby had described as being “high” on the agenda for Saturday’s summit.

Nevertheless, China along with other countries, like DPRK (North Korea) will be discussed and the Summit’s joint statement will contain “some of the strongest language” to date on the South China Sea and with regard to North Korea, the official said.

On the joint exercises by the coast guards of Quad members, the official said it was not to be seen as a red flag but consistent with the Quad’s goal of “reinforcing peace and stability and the continuity of international law”.

The ‘Cancer Moonshot’ — a pet project of Mr Biden, who lost an adult son to brain cancer in 2015, will involve screening, vaccines and treatment, supported by donations from all four Quad partners, a senior administration official told reporters on the eve of the summit.

The Summit will also announce that the Quad fellowship , a program launched in 2021 to bring STEM graduate students from Quad countries to the U.S. for further study, is officially being expanded to include students from South East Asian countries.

Along with the Coast Guard exercise, a Quad logistics network will be launched that allows for sharing cargo space on vessels and aircraft for humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR) missions. The outcomes will also involve Open RAN (radio access networks) pilots in the Pacific Islands and South East Asia.

The Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) , a program to monitor the marine environment for unregulated fishing and humanitarian disasters , will be expanded to cover the Indian Ocean region, under India’s leadership, a Biden administration official said. This expansion will include new training programs and the deployment of new technology. The program has been conducting pilot exercises in the region.

Published - September 21, 2024 05:54 pm IST