Beijing:As the US, India, Australia and Japan are set to hold their first Leaders' Summit of Quad on Friday, a wary China on Wednesday hoped that the four countries will do things that are "conducive" to regional peace and stability instead of the "opposite".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga will attend the virtual summit, which is the first conclave of the top leaders of the Quadrilateral alliance, which was often projected in the official media here as an alliance against China's rise.
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"We hope the relevant countries will keep in mind the common interests of the regional countries uphold the principles of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation and do things that are conducive to regional peace stability and prosperity rather than the opposite," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
In November 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.
The US has been favouring making Quad a security architecture to check China's growing assertiveness.
A commentary in the state-run Global Times on the reports of Quad summit two days ago said, "the busy schedule of arrangements seems, to Chinese observers, like a water-testing move from the US to sound out its Asian partners' attitude toward forming an unbreakable alliance' to counter China's rise".
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Zhao also reacted cautiously when asked about the reports that Quad leaders will reach an agreement to increase their vaccine assistance to the developing countries to counter China's vaccines diplomacy.