China hits back at Biden’s ‘hot mic’ comment on aggression

Beijing has responded angrily to United States President Joe Biden’s comments about Chinese aggression at a weekend summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, saying the four-nation grouping was a means to maintain Washington’s dominance in geopolitics.

Leaders of the so-called Quad, the group comprising Australia, Japan, India and the U.S., met on Saturday in Delaware, Biden’s home state. 

During their talks, the U.S. president made comments intended to be private but that were audible because he did not realize that a microphone was switched on.

He said: “China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region. It’s true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits.”

Beijing clapped back a day later.

“A tool the U.S. uses to contain China and perpetuate U.S. hegemony,” is how a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman described the Quad, when asked at a media briefing on Monday to comment on what Biden had said.

Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy was essentially an attempt “to exclude and contain China,” said China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian.

“Though the U.S. claims that it does not target China, the first topic of the summit is about China and China was made an issue throughout the event,” Lin said.

He said Washington pushes a narrative that China is a threat and “tries to muster military and security cooperation under the pretext of maritime issues.”

Lin added that  “the U.S. is lying through its teeth” and Washington needed to “get rid of its obsession with perpetuating its supremacy and containing China.”

The Quad was set up in 2007 but Australia withdrew from the group in 2008. It was then re-established in 2017 and immediately denounced by Beijing as a U.S. effort to create “an Asian NATO.”

U.S. and other Quad officials have repeatedly denied that they are attempting to form a NATO-like defense alliance in the region to counter China.

‘Lack of significant decisions’

The weekend summit’s 5,600-word final statement did not mention China by name but said that Quad members “are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas.”

“We continue to express our serious concern about the militarization of disputed features, and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea,” the Quad’s statement said. 

“We condemn the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, including increasing use of dangerous maneuvers.” 

The statement underscored that the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, which rejected China’s claims in the South China Sea, should be the basis for peacefully resolving maritime disputes.

On the issue of maritime security, Quad members agreed to launch a first Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission between coast guards in 2025 “to improve interoperability and advance maritime safety,” without releasing further details.

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Malcolm Davis, a senior defense analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), said “there weren’t any really significant decisions made” at the Quad summit.

“I suspect given that this is the last ones for Joe Biden and Kishida Fumio – with a U.S. presidential election fast approaching – and with an Australian election occurring by May next year – they decided to ‘mark time’ for this one,” he told Radio Free Asia (RFA), an online news service affiliated with BenarNews.

“So, a missed opportunity to set a firm stance going into 2025, with a potential return of Trump, and an uncertain situation in Japan in terms of likely replacement for Kishida,” he added.

‘Quad has to step up’

Another analyst, Tokyo-based Stephen Nagy, agreed that the group had likely avoided making commitments that new leaders might question.

“With President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida departing soon, I suspect the Quad statement was focused on presenting a broad vision rather than concrete initiatives that incoming leaders may not agree to,” said Nagy, a professor of politics and international studies. 

The Quad’s function had “evolved significantly away from being a security provider to a public good provider and regional problem solver, and this explains the lack of concrete details as to how to deal with China’s assertive behavior in the South and East China Seas,” added Nagy.

The summit’s final statement reaffirmed that “the Quad is here to stay.”

It also confirmed that the U.S. would host the next foreign ministers’ meeting of the four-member group next year, and India the Quad Leaders’ Summit in 2025.

“I definitely think that the Quad has to step up and become a more powerful and visible group – and that means it needs to start dealing more decisively on defense and security matters, rather than avoiding them,” said ASPI’s Davis.

“It shouldn’t be an ‘Asian NATO’ per se, but it does need to do more than low-level diplomatic decisions. China will continue to treat the Quad with contempt if the group doesn’t take on a more visible role, and the group will lose influence.”

Commenting on reports about proposals to expand the grouping’s dialogue mechanism to Quad Plus, to attract wider support, Nagy said the group was “designed as a foursome to maximize the decision making process.”

“Adding more members would slow down decisions and potentially lead it down the road of the tyranny of multilateralism.”

Radio Free Asia is an online news service affiliated with BenarNews.