india's prime minister narendra modi has a hectic week ahead he will have 40 hours for 23 engagements all the high stakes meetings will be held across japan the indian prime minister will be attending the court summit on tuesday that is on the 24th of may and separate biological meetings are also scheduled with the group leaders that is u.s president joe biden japanese prime minister fumio kishida and the incoming australian prime minister elect anthony albanese on monday morning arrangements are in place to have these people sworn in as members of my team [Applause] to enable penny and i to attend the important quad leaders meeting in tokyo with president biden prime minister kishida and prime minister modi india's foreign secretary vinay quatra held a press conference he gave details about the aim of this crucial visit during the court summit leaders will review the progress of quad initiatives they will identify new areas of cooperation japanese prime minister's india visit in march saw substantial outcomes indian prime minister will interact with the indian diaspora there will be a special session on the sidelines of the world health organizations assembly from participating in the court summit prime minister would also hold bilateral meetings with the president of the us prime minister of japan and with prime minister of australia the prime minister would also engage with the japanese business community and the indian diaspora during his stay in tokyo let me first begin with the quad leader summit as you all know court cooperation is anchored in the shared values and commitment to the principles of democracy international law and rules-based international order as also a vision for a free open and inclusive indo-pacific since its first summit quad has been working to implement a positive and constructive agenda with a strong focus on enabling peace prosperity and stability in the indo-pacific region similar to the agenda for most foreign meetings taking place around the world the russia ukraine war is likely to dominate the talks the block did meet on 2nd of march this year just six days after russia chose to invade ukraine but the war was at a very premature stage at that point months later countries have shaped their stance and policies around it the quad grouping is expected to showcase a united front against russia's brutalities but this puts india in a tricky situation because unlike india the other three countries have sided with ukraine they have penalized russia with sanctions and banned all bridges with the country however india has chosen a different path it has chosen dialogue over criticism so it will be interesting to see if the four countries will manage to come on the same page apart from this global issue there is a regional crisis that is bothering the group and that is china the country is rapidly becoming more hostile across the indo-pacific russia's invasion of ukraine has been seen as a wake-up call for taiwan which china claims as its own territory the united states along with its allies in asia have stood against china's encroachment efforts so a plan for taiwan's military emergency is also on the cards and for more on this most important crucial meeting we are being joined by professor james d.j brown who is an international affairs expert from tokyo professor good to see you and welcome to we on thank you very much apart from strengthening the grouping at the tokyo summit next tuesday what can the countries of the court do to deal with the challenges in the indo-pacific many critics argue they must seek alternatives with a focus on trusted global supply chains professor what's your view on that so i think to take a step back for a moment when the the quad first came into existence uh there was a lot of thought that it was very vague it didn't have any real substance to it but i think what we've seen over recent years and will be reaffirmed this latest meeting in tokyo is adding real kind of substance uh practical initiatives to this entity so that means working together more closely on supply chains on setting standards for the digital economy for working together on infrastructure but also things such as the suggestion that there will be an agreement on tracking of illegal fishing setting standards there which is seen as pushing back against china's activities in the region we've had what the u.s is doing we've also had what australia is doing we've also had what india is doing but what primary role can japan play in this i think one of the priorities of the the japanese side this time round is to push in the in the economic area there's a feeling the the big missing piece especially when it comes to the united states is a commitment in terms of economic cooperation within the region now the united states is seeking to address this through the launch of the indo-pacific economic framework which is going to be announced tomorrow but what japan hopes is that they can push japan to go sorry what japan hopes is they can push the us to go even further and that scene is crucial because if the quad wants countries particularly in southeast asia to deepen cooperation with them rather than with china then the crucial thing will be the economy ear and so i think the japan ideally would like the united states to rejoin the trans-pacific partnership now they recognize that that's a very distant prospect but if that's not going to happen well at least they want the united states to go as far as possible in committing to investment within this region professor finally what will it take for the court grouping to deal with the agent what is what is now called the dragon bear that is the partnership between russia and china yes i mean that's the the big issue which is hanging over this i don't think they'll address it uh publicly during this meeting and the reason for this is because there have been clear disagreements within the quad over russia policy and here of course i'm talking about that india taking rather a different stance to some of the other partners so i don't think they'll want to really address this head-on at least publicly because that would reveal tensions within the quad so instead i think the goal of the japanese hosts for the quad meeting is instead to focus on on china to focus on the indo-pacific and to show that all four members are truly united in that area and in fact i think whilst russia will clearly be um you know a presence lurking in the background i don't think they're going to address that so directly uh this week live from tokyo international affairs expert professor james dj brown thank you very much for making time and for talking to eon today we on is now available in your country download the app now and get all the news on the move [Music]
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