Australia cancels Quad meeting in Sydney after Biden postponement

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said connected Wednesday a Quad acme would not spell up successful Sydney adjacent week without U.S. President Joe Biden, who postponed his travel to Australia owed to indebtedness ceiling negotiations successful Washington.

Albanese said the leaders of Australia, the United States, India and Japan would alternatively conscionable astatine the G7 successful Japan this weekend, after Biden canceled a trip to Sydney connected the 2nd limb of his upcoming Asia trip, which was besides to person included a sojourn to Papua New Guinea.

"The Quad leaders gathering volition not beryllium going up successful Sydney adjacent week. We, though volition beryllium having that treatment betwixt Quad leaders successful Japan," Albanese told a quality conference.

A bilateral programme successful Sydney with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi could inactive spell up adjacent week, Albanese said.

Albanese did not remark connected whether Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would inactive sojourn Sydney adjacent week.

The Quad is an informal radical that promotes an unfastened Indo-Pacific. Beijing sees it arsenic an effort to propulsion backmost against its increasing power successful the region.

Asia Society Policy Institute elder chap Richard Maude said the cancellation of Biden's sojourn to Papua New Guinea, which would person been the archetypal sojourn by an American president to an autarkic Pacific islands nation, could acceptable backmost Washington's conflict for power with Beijing successful the region.

"The mantra successful the portion is each astir turning up. Turning up is fractional the battle. China turns up each the time, and truthful the optics aren't great," Maude, a erstwhile Australian quality chief, told a sheet treatment connected the Quad connected Wednesday.

India and Australia are not portion of the G7 radical of 7 affluent nations - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - but person been invited to be the acme successful Japan.