China has warned against “bloc confrontation” after officials from the Australia-India-Japan-US ‘Quad’ grouping met in New Delhi.
Beijing said on Tuesday that any collaborative effort should contribute to regional peace, stability, and prosperity.
“We also do not support the formation of exclusive cliques or bloc confrontation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing. “No cooperation should undermine mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries.”
Beijing’s response came as the foreign ministers from India, Australia, Japan, and the US met in New Delhi.
The meeting, chaired by India’s S. Jaishankar, was attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.
Jaishankar said the bloc’s focus will be on the Indo-Pacific, “which is the specific remit of the Quad,” Mint reported.
At the meeting, the Quad countries agreed to jointly build a port in the Pacific island nation of Fiji and signed pacts covering critical minerals and energy security.
They said the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative was aimed at “collaborating to secure and diversify critical minerals supply chains.”
“As four leading maritime nations in the Indo-Pacific, we are united in our conviction that peace and stability in the maritime domain underpin the security and prosperity of the region,” the countries said in a statement.
“We strongly oppose any destabilizing or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo, including by force or coercion, which escalate tensions and undermine regional peace and stability” in the Indo-Pacific, the statement added.
The Quad grouping originated as a Japanese diplomatic initiative nearly 20 years ago but gained prominence with support from former US President Joseph Biden. However, current US President Donald Trump’s tariff wars have injected uncertainty into the group’s direction.
The Quad nations were expected to hold a summit in India last year, but that did not materialize. India was particularly hit hard by Trump’s punitive trade tariffs.
The Quad joint statement did not set a specific date for its next meeting. “We look forward to the next Quad Leaders’ Summit hosted by India later this year and the next Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting hosted by Australia in 2026,” it said.
The previous Quad summit was held in the US in September 2024.