Politics

Quad leaders’ summit cancelled after Biden calls off trip

Sydney, Australia, May 17 (EFE).- Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Wednesday the cancellation of the security summit of the leaders of the Quad, made up of Australia, India, the United States and Japan, after US President Joe Biden called off his trip to the Oceania country.

“The Quad leaders meeting will not be going ahead in Sydney next week,” Albanese said at a press conference.

The decision comes hours after the White House announced that Biden would return to the United States on Sunday after attending the G7 summit in Japan, in order to negotiate his country’s debt ceiling.

The Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue summit was scheduled to take place on May 24 between Biden, Albanese and the prime ministers of Japan and India, Fumio Kishida and Narendra Modi respectively.

The four leaders will now try to meet on the sidelines of the G7 summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, where Albanese has been invited by Kishida, despite Australia not being a member of the bloc.

Albanese will also hold a bilateral meeting with Biden in Japan.

“At this stage, we haven’t got a time locked in for that arrangement,” the Australian leader said.

Biden will not travel to Papua New Guinea either – the first visit by a sitting US president to the country -, where he was scheduled to sign two strategic pacts.

The Quad, created in 2004 after the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean, was revived in 2017 to counter China’s growing influence in the region. EFE

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