Small cliques will destroy world order: China on Quad

Beijing: China slammed the Quad, saying no “small cliques” should be formed, as it accused some countries of trying to “sow discord” among regional nations by “hyping” the ”China threat” and asserted that they will not succeed.

Quad countries involving the US, India, Australia and Japan held their first virtual summit on March 12 during which President Joe Biden told leaders of the coalition that a “free and open” Indo-Pacific is essential to their countries and vowed that his country was committed to working with its partners and allies in the region to achieve stability.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the virtual summit alongside Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

“Certain countries should shake off their Cold-War mentality and ideological prejudice, refrain from forming closed and exclusive small circles, and do more things that are conducive to solidarity and cooperation among regional countries and regional peace and stability,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here.

He was answering a question about the first Leaders’ Summit of the Quad countries and the reported remarks by US National Secretary Advisor Jake Sullivan that the four leaders discussed the challenge posed by China and said all four believed the democracies could help compete with autocracy.

“For quite some time, certain countries have been so keen to exaggerate and hype up the so-called ‘China threat’ to sow discord among regional countries, especially to disrupt their relations with China,” Zhao said.

“However, their actions, running counter to the trend of the times of peace, development and cooperation and the common aspirations of the countries and peoples in the region, will not be welcomed or succeed,” he said.

Zhao said China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order.

Image courtesy of (adda247.com)

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