Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese through the AFR Business Summit in Sydney on March 7, 2023.
Brent Lewin | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday a Quad summit wouldn’t go ahead in Sydney next week without U.S. President Joe Biden, who postponed his trip to Australia on account of debt ceiling negotiations in Washington.
Albanese said the leaders of Australia, the USA, India and Japan would as a substitute meet on the G7 in Japan this weekend, after Biden canceled a visit to Sydney on the second leg of his upcoming Asia trip, which was also to have included a visit to Papua Recent Guinea.
“The Quad leaders meeting won’t be going ahead in Sydney next week. We, though shall be having that discussion between Quad leaders in Japan,” Albanese told a news conference.
A bilateral program in Sydney with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi could still go ahead next week, Albanese said.
Albanese didn’t comment on whether Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would still visit Sydney next week.
The Quad is a casual group that promotes an open Indo-Pacific. Beijing sees it as an try and beat back against its growing influence within the region.
Asia Society Policy Institute senior fellow Richard Maude said the cancellation of Biden’s visit to Papua Recent Guinea, which might have been the primary visit by an American president to an independent Pacific islands nation, could set back Washington’s battle for influence with Beijing within the region.
“The mantra within the region is all about turning up. Turning up is half the battle. China turns up on a regular basis, and so the optics aren’t great,” Maude, a former Australian intelligence chief, told a panel discussion on the Quad on Wednesday.
India and Australia will not be a part of the G7 group of seven wealthy nations – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USA – but have been invited to attend the summit in Japan.
