Joe Biden was recorded telling the leaders of Australia, India and Japan that an aggressive China was “testing us” in remarks to the Quad, threatening to undermine a declaration from the group that has carefully avoided naming Beijing.
The remarks came at the start of a farewell summit in Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“China continues to take aggressive actions and test us across the region, whether that’s in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia or the Taiwan Strait,” Biden said in private remarks to the Quad group of four nations.
Biden said that while Chinese President Xi Jinping is focused on “domestic economic challenges,” he is “trying, in my view, to buy diplomatic space to aggressively pursue China’s interests.”
But he argued that Washington’s recent “intense efforts” to ease tensions, including a phone call with Xi in April, were helping to prevent conflict.
The remarks threatened to undermine careful diplomatic efforts by the four countries during the summit to assert that the grouping was not just a counterbalance to China.
In a joint statement issued after the summit, the four leaders expressed concern over tensions on China’s border but did not mention China directly. “We are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas,” the statement said.
The leaders also condemned “coercive and threatening actions” in the South China Sea, where China is in conflict with the Philippines and other countries over maritime rights, but did not specify who was responsible.
Meanwhile, disputed islands in the East China Sea have long been a source of tension between Japan and China.
Instead, as on previous occasions, the leaders made euphemistic statements about keeping the region “free and open” and discussing geopolitical “challenges.”
Another shadow hanging over the summit is the close US presidential election in November between isolationist former President Donald Trump and Biden’s political successor, Kamala Harris.
Biden insisted the Quad would survive no matter the political climate: “There will be challenges, but the world will be different because the Quad will survive,” he told leaders publicly before reporters left.
Asked by reporters whether the Quad – the alliance of Japan, the United States, Australia and India – would survive the November 5 election, Biden replied: “Well beyond November. Well beyond November.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a similar pledge, a pledge that will be welcomed by Washington, Canberra and Tokyo as they try to persuade India, a historically non-aligned nation. “Our message is that the Quad is here to stay,” said Modi, who will host a Quad summit in India next year.
Biden, who withdrew from the US presidential election in July due to concerns about his age, made his farewell meeting deeply personal.
The summit took place at his high school in Wilmington, and prior to that he opened his home in the city to each of the leaders for individual meetings. “I’m so happy that you all came to my house and saw where I grew up,” he said.
The two leaders also announced investments in cervical cancer for Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, another deeply personal project launched after Biden’s eldest son, Beau, died of brain cancer.
Media were not allowed to attend the private meeting at Biden’s home.
Mr Biden posted photos on social media of himself with Mr Albanese and later with Mr Kishida in the home’s wood-paneled living room, as well as another showing a lake view from the balcony.
The White House said the summit reflected Biden’s prioritization of international alliances.
Questions are growing about what will happen if Trump, who has threatened to withdraw the United States from groups such as NATO while praising the leaders of Russia and North Korea, returns to the Oval Office.