Quad Summit: China Diplomacy and Vaccines to be the Major Focus Today

World: The ‘Quad ‘group of nations will convene for 2 hours today(12 March) virtually. The representatives of the Quad group Indian PM Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will come together to discuss. Efforts to curb China’s vaccine diplomacy and coronavirus vaccine initiative to culminate the pandemic will be the major address of the summit.

The Quad groups will highlight finances by Japan and the US along with Australia to support the country for developing anti-covid vaccines manufactured in India. US officials report treaties will be finalized on Indian vaccine curators for American pharma firms Novovax Inc. and Johnson& Johnson.

Australian PM Scott Morrison called the meet a ‘historic movement and urged discussion of security challenges across the Indo-Pacific, climate change, and efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the region. “There have been many other meetings, but when governments come together at the highest level, this shows a whole new level of cooperation to create a new anchor for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.   

Subsequently, a remarkable discussion on the preservation of rare earth metals will also take place.According to a report, China currently produces nearly 60 percent of the world’s rare earth metals, and its market power has posed supply concerns. The Quad remains a strong focus for the four nations that have each had conflicts with China in recent years. Earlier, this informal strategic forum was revived in 2017 against Beijing. The “Quad” nations contributed to a 2-day joint military exercise, Malabar 2020 in the Bay of Bengal during the end of 2020. This meet is expected to lay the framework for the in-person meeting later in the year.