China ‘testing us’, Joe Biden tells Quad leaders

A hot mic has caught Joe Biden issuing a grave warning on China to Anthony Albanese and the leaders of India and Japan, giving a glimpse of the candid nature of talks between some of the Indo-Pacific’s key players.

Mr Biden, who was hosting Mr Albanese and prime ministers of India and Japan for the Quad leaders summit, said China was “testing” them.

“We believe (Chinese President) Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges and minimise the turbulence in China’s diplomatic relationships, and he’s also looking to buy himself some diplomatic space, in my view, to aggressively pursue China’s interest,” he said.

“China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region, and it’s true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits.

“It’s true across the scope of our relationship, including on economic and technology issues.”

Mr Biden’s remarks to Mr Albanese, India’s Narendra Modi and Japan’s Fumio Kishida were caught by a camera feed at the top of closed door talks with his fellow Quad leaders.

The bluntness was in stark contrast of how leaders of all Quad countries have tried to frame the strategic four-way dialogue, often deflecting suggestions that it exists to counter China.

But they come against a backdrop of multilateral defence and economic moves involving Australia that are broadly seen as curbing China’s growing ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.

In August, Mr Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon pledged to step up trans-Tasman defence.

A couple of weeks later, Pacific leaders backed an Australian-proposed policing initiative, in which Canberra will spend $400m to build up policing capabilities across the region over the next five years.

Beijing had been attempting to secure a similar deal, with police in the Solomon Islands and Kiribati.

Perhaps the most overt counter-measure, Australia will get at least eight nuclear-powered submarines under the trilateral AUKUS security pact between Canberra, Washington and London.

But Mr Biden also said it was important to keep talking with Beijing.

“At the same time, we believe intense competition requires intense diplomacy,” he said.

“I spoke to President Xi in April. My National Security Advisor recently travelled to Beijing a few weeks ago, and we see this engagement as important for conflict prevention and crisis management amidst our strategic competition.”

He added that “we’ve secured some gains in US-China bilateral relations”.