During the Quad Summit, US President Joe Biden said something about China on the hot mic, which became a topic of discussion. Joe Biden said that China is testing us.
During the Quad Summit, US President Joe Biden said something about China on the hot mic, which became a topic of discussion. Joe Biden said that China is testing us. Biden said this when reporters were leaving the conference venue. It is said that he said this very softly, but the people present there heard it. Later the White House also defended it. Biden was heard saying that I think Jinping wants to buy some diplomatic space to aggressively push China forward.
The 81-year-old leader said China’s aggressive behaviour continues. It is constantly testing us across the region on many fronts, including economic and technology. Biden stressed that the Quad nations believe that intense diplomacy is needed in times of intense competition. The US President’s remarks came during the Quad summit on Saturday, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
A senior US administration official appeared defensive on these comments of the outgoing US President. He said that there is no need to talk about them in detail. He also tried to explain that the Quad countries were not sitting together only about China. He said that I think it is not surprising that China would have been on the agenda. This is an Indo-Pacific conference. This is an Indo-Pacific partnership.
The official said that China is a major country in the Indo-Pacific region. But I think it is also fair to say that there were many other topics on the agenda. Let us tell you that in the context of China’s aggressive military actions in the South China Sea, the Quad countries emphasized on a free and open Indo-Pacific region. China has disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea regions.