According to the division of labor among the four countries, India will produce vaccines with funding from the United States and Japan, and Australia will provide training funds and provide logistics support for vaccine distribution; the vaccines produced will be mainly distributed to Pacific island countries, Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean countries.

Washington: The “Quad Security Dialogue” (Quad) mechanism composed of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia held its summit for the first time and agreed to pool capital, production, and distribution capabilities to provide 1 billion doses to Asian countries by the end of 2022 Coronavirus vaccine.

According to the division of labor among the four countries, India will produce vaccines with funding from the United States and Japan, and Australia will provide training funds and provide logistics support for vaccine distribution; the vaccines produced will be mainly distributed to Pacific island countries, Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean countries.

U.S. President Biden met at the White House on Friday (March 12) with the leaders of the three countries through video talks to reach an agreement on the vaccine plan.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that this plan shows that the “four-party security dialogue” is “a positive force” for global peace and the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region.

At a press conference in New Delhi after the summit, the Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India Slinghra described the cooperation of the four countries as “the most timely and valuable.” “We believe this will speed up the recovery process after the epidemic, and let the general family and business community get rid of the crisis.”

It is known that the Biological company of India will be responsible for the production of vaccines, mainly manufacturing single-dose vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals in the United States. This coronavirus vaccine was just approved by the World Health Organization on Friday; the production funds are mainly provided by Japan and the US International Development Finance Corporation.

The 10 richest countries contract 80% of the vaccine supply

The Four-Party Security Dialogue mentioned the need to deal with China’s expanding vaccine diplomacy in Southeast Asia and around the world.

Bloomberg analysis reported that developing countries were squeezed out of the market by richer countries in the fight for vaccines. This gave Russia and China an opportunity to exert their “soft power”. China and Russia have begun to provide vaccines to many countries, including Chile and China. The Philippines and other areas with severe epidemics and large vaccine gaps.

The international charity Oxfam pointed out that the current vaccine distribution is imbalanced. As of last week, as many as 80% of the world’s vaccine supply is concentrated in the 10 wealthiest countries. It pointed out that this left a vacuum for some countries to promote their national interests by providing vaccines.

Public health and humanitarian experts also reminded the US government that if it continues to give priority to Americans on the vaccine issue, and does not help other countries in time, it will ultimately harm its own interests.

In addition to vaccine diplomacy issues, the four-nation summit also pledged to jointly safeguard “freedom and openness” in the Indo-Pacific region without naming China’s threats.

Biden said that a free and open Indo-Pacific region is vital to the future of the United States, Japan, India and Australia. “We once again pledge to ensure that our region acts in accordance with international law, and is committed to maintaining universal values ​​and ensuring that it is free from any coercion.”

The four-party cooperation between the United States, Japan, India and Australia has existed for more than 10 years, but this is the first time a summit-level meeting has been held. In the past year, apart from the tense Sino-US relations and the outbreak of conflicts between China and India, China has also stepped up activities near Japanese islands and imposed sanctions on Australian products. That is, the relations between the four countries and China have deteriorated.

Australian Prime Minister Morrison said that the convening of this summit marked “a new dawn in the Indo-Pacific”.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told the media in Tokyo that he strongly opposed China’s unilateral attempt to change the status quo and expressed concern about the military coup in Myanmar, which was supported by the leaders of the other three countries.

China refers to the “quartet security dialogue” as a conspiracy against China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference yesterday that China hopes that relevant countries will uphold the concept of openness, tolerance, and win-win results, “not to engage in closed and exclusive small circles’, and do more that is conducive to regional peace, stability, and prosperity. thing”.