Australia cancels Quad leaders' meeting due to President Biden's absence

Úc hủy hội nghị lãnh đạo Bộ Tứ vì Tổng thống Biden vắng mặt - Ảnh 1. — Leaders of the Quad countries, including (from left) Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a meeting in Tokyo in May 2022

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on May 17 that he had canceled plans to host a summit of the Quad, a group that includes Australia, India, Japan and the United States. Instead, Mr. Albanese will meet the leaders of the remaining three countries in Japan this weekend when they attend the G7 summit, Reuters said.

"The Quad leaders' meeting will not be in Sydney next week. However, we will be holding a Quad leaders' discussion in Japan," Mr Albanese told a press conference.

The Australian Prime Minister said a bilateral program in Sydney with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi could still go ahead next week.

Mr Albanese would not comment on whether Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would also visit Sydney next week.

The Quad is an informal grouping meant to promote a free and open Indo- Pacific region, but China sees it as an attempt to push back against its growing influence in the region.

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The White House announced on May 16 that President Biden will cancel his planned visit to Australia and Papua New Guinea, and cut short his trip to Asia to attend the G7 summit in Japan, due to the impasse in negotiations to raise the US debt ceiling. If the debt ceiling, currently at $31.4 trillion, is not raised, the US government could go into default, meaning it will not have the money to pay for public expenses and pay off debts. The US Treasury Department predicts this scenario could happen as early as June 1.

The Democratic president is currently negotiating with congressional leaders, primarily Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The two sides met for the second time in a week on May 16, but have yet to reach an agreement. While Biden and the Democrats want the debt ceiling to be raised unconditionally, as it has been many times before, and this should be separate from the federal budget, Republicans, who control the House, are demanding cuts in government spending and a host of other changes.

Before the meeting, Mr. McCarthy urged President Biden to focus on domestic issues. Mr. Biden is scheduled to depart for Japan to attend the G7 summit on May 17 (US time). According to the White House announcement, Mr. Biden will return to Washington DC on May 21 to participate in further negotiations with leading lawmakers to prevent the risk of government shutdown.

India and Australia are not part of the G7, a group of seven developed industrial nations - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - but have been invited to attend the conference in Japan.

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