Quad Ministers express concern over South China Sea situation

The Foreign Ministers of the Quad group - Australia, the United States, India and Japan - expressed ‘serious concern about the situation in the South China and East China Seas’ in Tokyo on Monday, in a veiled allusion to Beijing. 

‘We continue to express our serious concern over the militarisation of disputed areas and coercive and intimidating manoeuvres in the South China Sea,’ the Quad chief diplomats said in the communiqué released in Tokyo. 

The meeting was attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a diplomatic tour of the Asia-Pacific region to strengthen cooperation in the face of China's growing belligerence and rapprochement with Russia. On Sunday, Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin met with their Japanese counterparts in Tokyo and made sharp criticisms of China and Russia.

The four senior officials from Washington and Tokyo said in a statement that ‘(China's) foreign policy seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others’. 

They criticised Moscow for its ‘growing and provocative military cooperation’ with China, as well as its purchase of North Korean ballistic missiles ‘for use against Ukraine’. 

The Chinese government, meanwhile, called on the US and Japan to ‘stop creating imaginary enemies’. 

‘We strongly urge the United States and Japan to stop interfering in China's internal affairs and to stop creating imaginary enemies,’ said a Chinese diplomatic spokesman, Lin Jian. 

The Philippines has been a focus of concern for the Quad as it faces a long-running territorial dispute with China over parts of the South China Sea, a crucial maritime trade route. 

The clashes have raised concerns that Washington, an ally of Manila, could be drawn into a conflict with Beijing, which claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea. 

Blinken and Austin will travel to Manila on Monday night to meet with their Philippine counterparts.