There was cautious expectation China would become a responsible member of the international community, given its 40-year surge towards free trade. This has sadly not come to pass. China’s offence-is-the-best-form-of-defence posture after the spread of the coronavirus pandemic from its soil, has confirmed the Chinese communist party’s aggressive streak. But now countries neighbouring China are building a coalition aimed at reining in their increasingly noisy neighbour.
Foreign ministers of a revitalised QUAD – a grouping consisting of the US, Japan, India and Australia – met in Tokyo last week. After the meeting, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo railed at Beijing’s ‘bad behaviour’ and the threats it posed. He echoed that when the Australians asked for an investigation into the coronavirus and where it began, ‘the Chinese Communist party threatened them’.
Pompeo also pointed out that China had amassed 60,000 soldiers on India’s frontier.
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