Wang Yi Exposes Quad Effort To Create an Asian NATO as a Geopolitical Security Risk

Oct. 13, 2020 (EIRNS)—Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a press conference following his meeting with the Malaysian Foreign Minister, was asked by Xinhua to address the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy. He responded by directly attacking the effort by Secretary Pompeo to turn the Quad into an Asian NATO:

“In essence, [the Indo-Pacific strategy] aims to build a so-called Indo-Pacific NATO underpinned by the quadrilateral mechanism involving the United States, Japan, India and Australia,” Wang said.

“What it pursues is to trumpet the Cold War mentality and to stir up confrontation among different groups and blocs and to stoke geopolitical competition. What it maintains is the dominance and hegemonic system of the United States. In this sense, this strategy is itself a big underlying security risk. If it is forced forward, it will wind back the clock of history,”

he stated.

Pompeo has been proclaiming the meeting of the Foreign Ministers from the Quad on Oct. 6 in Tokyo as a great success, that he had won the support of the other three nations to “counter the challenge that the Chinese Communist Party presents to all of us,” and that other nations could join the Quad at “an appropriate time.” This is far from the truth, as Japan, Australia and India did not mention China in their readout of the meeting with Pompeo, which focused primarily on the medical and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. There was no joint communiqué.

Also, all four countries gave lip service to “ASEAN centrality” in the Indo-Pacific region, and yet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is now engaged in an extremely successful tour of the ASEAN nations [see Asia, below]. More later.