The Trump administration has been pushing the other three QUAD members — India, Japan, and Australia — to form voluntary groupings in Asia to counter what it sees as the growing power of China. Nevertheless, the US State Department admitted that other countries are not forward-leaning on countering the “threat” posed by China.
During a Tuesday media briefing, US State Department officials brought up the recent clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh, “where you've actually got people beating each other to death”, in order to explain the need for groupings of likeminded nations in the region.
The remark was made as two senior State Department officials said that America would like to form “results-oriented multilateralism in Asia” involving QUAD members – India, Japan, and Australia.
The officials underlined that the voluntary groupings in Asia will include like-minded nations who share the common values of democracy, the rule of law, a respect for human rights, and individual freedom.
They, however, emphasised that such groupings aren't about a US-China dispute.
“This is about the free world versus Chinese authoritarianism”, one of the officials said.
While explaining the reason behind the recent conflict in eastern Ladakh, they called out “the change” in Beijing's behaviour in the region which according to them is driven by “a race to get to certain goals”.
“They talk about their 2021 centenary goal, their 2035…
