ANI |
Update: Jul 28, 2021 7:21 PM STI

New Delhi [India], July 28 (ANI): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a two-day visit to India, said on Wednesday that Quad is not a military alliance but that its goal is to advance cooperation on regional challenges while strengthening international rules and values.
“Quad is not a military alliance. Its aim is to advance cooperation on regional challenges while strengthening international rules and values ​​which we believe underpin peace, prosperity and stability in the region. “said Blinken.
On the issue of Quad training, he said: “It’s pretty simple but just as important. Four like-minded countries (United States, India, Japan and Australia) come together to work on some of the most important issues of the times are going to have a real impact on people’s lives and to do so in a way that ensures a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Quad is a grouping of India, the United States, Australia and Japan which aims to protect the interests of the democratic nations of the Indo-Pacific region and to meet global challenges.
The creation of the Quad was aimed at creating an “Arc of Democracy” in Asia, and many observers see it as an initiative of the Asian powers, in collaboration with the United States, to curb the coercive and growing influence of China.
Chinese leaders intend to ensure that the Quad is not extended to countries in Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula.
Amid China’s opposition to the Quad grouping, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said Wednesday that some countries should overcome the idea that “other countries are doing things that are directed against them.”

Speaking to a co-presser with his US counterpart Antony Blinken, who is on a two-day visit to India, Jaishankar said: “In a globalized world, India has interests far beyond its immediate neighbors. doing things is directed against them. Countries are doing things that are in their best interest for their own good and the good of the word and that is exactly the case with Quad. “
Earlier, Quad hosted the first-ever virtual leaders’ summit in March that all four heads of state attended.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s administration proposed the first in-person “Quad” meeting with leaders of India, Japan and Australia in late September.
The meeting would mark unity among the four Indo-Pacific democracies amid growing assertion by China President Biden seeks to build “a position of strength” to engage directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
This meeting is scheduled after the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly, to be held in September in New York.
The meeting is expected to end China’s so-called “vaccine diplomacy” in which Beijing gives vaccines to developing countries.
Various issues, including vaccine production and cooperation in infrastructure projects, could also be discussed at this meeting. (ANI)