Biden tees up four-way talks with India, Japan, Australia
TOKYO (AP) — President Joe Biden is winding up his visit to Asia on Tuesday by holding talks with a quartet of Indo-Pacific leaders that includes Australia's new prime minister and India's Narendra Modi, with whom differences persist over how to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Biden will meet separately with the newly-sworn in Anthony Albanese of Australia and with Modi after a four-way gathering of the security group known as the Quad. The partnership, which includes the U.S., Australia, India and Japan, has become increasingly relevant as Biden has moved to adjust U.S. foreign policy to put greater focus on the region and to counter China's rise as an economic and security power.
Looming over the Quad leaders' talks will be Biden's blunt statement on Monday that the U.S. would intervene militarily if China were to invade Taiwan, saying the burden to protect Taiwan is “even stronger’ after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The White House insists that Biden’s unusually forceful comments about Taiwan did not amount to a shift in U.S. policy toward the self-ruled island that China claims as its own.
Going into the Quad meeting, White House officials said the situation in Ukraine would be on the agenda. Biden on Monday was effusive over Japan's efforts to levy sanctions on Russia, and send humanitarian aid to to Kyiv.
But the White House has been disappointed with India's response to the invasion.
Biden has asked Modi not to accelerate the buying of Russian oil as the U.S. and other allies look to squeeze Moscow’s energy income. The Indian prime minister made no public commitment to cut off from Russian oil, and Biden has publicly referred to India as “somewhat shaky" in its response to the invasion.
Unlike other Quad countries and nearly every other U.S. ally,...
