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[global times special correspondent wang hui] according to a report by japan's kyodo news on the 19th, john kirby, the strategic communication coordinator of the us white house national security council, announced at a press conference on the 18th that us president biden will meet with japanese prime minister fumio kishida, indian prime minister modi, and australian prime minister albanese during the us-japan-india-australia "quadrilateral mechanism" (quad) leaders' meeting held in wilmington, delaware on the 21st local time. kyodo news previously quoted diplomatic sources as saying that during the talks, the four countries of the united states, japan, india and australia will announce a joint cruise plan.

file photo of us president biden source: visual china

the report said that the japan coast guard and the maritime law enforcement agencies of the united states, india and australia will participate in this plan. out of concern about china's growing presence in the region, the four countries will jointly curb "china's illegal fishing fleet." according to the british independent, the coast guard ships of the four countries will focus on the south china sea and its surrounding waters to conduct joint patrols in turn, which is expected to begin in 2025. kyodo news also said that the united states, japan, india and australia are considering allowing officials from japan, australia and india's maritime law enforcement agencies to board u.s. coast guard ships early next year. japan's jiji press previously disclosed that out of concern about china's increasing "economic coercion," the four countries will promote cooperation to achieve a "free and open indo-pacific."

in addition, the leaders of the united states, japan, india and australia will also include in the joint statement content including promoting the development of communication networks in the indo-pacific region, supporting agriculture and establishing anti-cancer cooperation. the british independent said that this is the last quad leaders' meeting before the end of biden and kishida fumio's term, and it is expected to prepare for the next leaders of the two countries.

the asahi shimbun stated that in terms of containing china, the biden administration attaches importance to the "quadrilateral mechanism" of the united states, japan, india and australia. however, hiroshi shiratori, a professor at hosei university in japan, commented on social networks that fumio kishida has announced that he "will not participate in the ldp presidential election", which is equivalent to "stepping down". the quad leaders' meeting was held on september 21, and the ldp presidential election was on september 27, less than a week before and after. for fumio kishida, who has "stepped down", attending the quad leaders' meeting cannot decide anything.

chen yang, a visiting researcher at the center for japanese studies at liaoning university, told the global times on the 19th that in recent years, the united states, japan, india and australia have repeatedly conducted bilateral, trilateral or quadrilateral joint maritime military exercises in the asia-pacific region under the banner of "maintaining a rules-based international order" and "freedom of navigation", which seriously threatens regional peace and stability. compared with the "high-level" and "large-scale" joint military exercises of the four countries, the deepening of joint maritime patrols by the united states, japan, india and australia is relatively "low-level" and "small-scale", but such joint maritime patrols are actually more flexible and may be more frequent.

chen yang believes that the united states, japan, india and australia seeking to strengthen joint maritime patrols not only means that the four countries' maritime security and defense cooperation will be further refined, but also means that in the future, the four countries may intervene more frequently through joint patrols on some regional issues, such as chinese ships cruising the diaoyu islands and the philippines' provocations against china in the south china sea, so as to "take sides" on some regional issues involving china.