There is no news on whether Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ‘put the hard word’ on the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, regarding that awkward Indian spy ring that ASIO accused of stealing Trade and Defence secrets. We can probably file that away as another broken promise.
Instead of holding each other to account, ‘the Quad’ were busy making joint statements on social media today about their plans for Pacific security along with some unusually coherent hot-mic takes from Joe Biden.
The elder abuse continues.
Joe Biden forgot what he was doing and shouted “Who’s next?”
Sir, his name is Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India. pic.twitter.com/sBy3JPIpl8
— Billboard Chris ???? (@BillboardChris) September 22, 2024
Quad leaders include the Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
There have been plenty of press-friendly activities padded throughout the event that, to quote Prime Minister Modi, ‘further the global good’ and ‘involve working together in key sectors like healthcare, technology, climate change, and capacity building’. For America, this includes returning a record number of Indian cultural heritage items.
Deepening cultural connect and strengthening the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural properties.
I am extremely grateful to President Biden and the US Government for ensuring the return of 297 invaluable antiquities to India. @POTUS @JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/0jziIYZ1GO
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 22, 2024
That said, the central theme of the Quad summit remains the growing risk of military conflict in the Pacific.
‘China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region,’ said President Biden, during a ‘hot mic’ event. ‘And it’s true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia, and the Taiwan Straits.’
Biden continued:
‘At least from our [the US] perspective, we believe 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.
‘It’s true across the scope of our relationship, including on economic and technology issues. At the same time, we believe intense competition requires intense diplomacy.’
As far as Biden Blunders go, this one was at least accurate, honest, and coherent.
The comments were not divorced from what the Quad members said publicly.
‘We are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas.’
Their joint statement went on to condemn ‘coercive and intimidating manoeuvres’ in the South China Sea – comments that will come as no surprise to anyone who has been following China’s frequent and increasingly severe bullying of small neighbouring nations that have claims to disputed territories.
‘We strongly oppose any destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,’ read their joint statement.
As part of the Quad plan to secure peace in the region, they have announced an intention to engage in joint coast guard operations where Japanese, Indian, and Australian personnel will spend time on a US Coast Guard vessel. How this will combat the heavy militarisation of disputed zones by China is anyone’s guess. The Quad countries will also continue working on radio and security technology upgrades in the region. Meanwhile, China is covering coral atolls with missile launch stations and building ‘scientific research’ stations in Antarctica with military-grade capabilities in case the penguins turn nasty.
Earlier, the US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was asked if the Quad meeting intended to focus on the growing threat of China.
‘The Quad isn’t really about any other country,’ Sullivan replied. ‘It’s not directed at another country. It’s directed at problem-solving, standing up for a set of common principles, and a common vision for the region. So I don’t think you should expect to see focus on any particular country, including the PRC in the Quad leader statement.’
Which is an awkward way of hinting that the ‘common problem’ in the region is Chinese aggression.
Biden assured reporters, ‘While challenges will come, the world will change, the Quad is here to stay, I believe, here to stay.’ And will it survive the US Presidential election? ‘Way beyond November. Way beyond November…’
Great to talk with Prime Minister @narendramodi today at the Quad Leaders Summit about ways to strengthen our partnership. pic.twitter.com/ttdtSDliUf
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) September 22, 2024
Believe it or not, Anthony Albanese did eventually speak.
‘Unlike some international forums, the Quad doesn’t have a long history,’ said Albanese. ‘It’s not defined by tradition, but it also means that it is not confined by it. It means that as it develops, it can evolve. And that is, I believe, what is happening.’
You would be forgiven for mistaking Albanese for Kamala Harris, given the incoherence and irrelevancy of his comment.
Aside from nodding along to Biden’s suggestions for Pacific security, that was about the sum of Albanese’s verbal contribution to the China question.
The other high-profile topic that headlined the discussion was the ‘Quad Cancer Moonshot Initiative’.
No, it doesn’t have anything to do with the space race involving militarising the Moon led by, you guessed it, China. This project represents the expansion of joint vaccine programs for the human papillomavirus (HPV) virus which is thought to cause cervical cancer.
The Quad Cancer Moonshot Initiative would see the vaccine rolled out through various Pacific partners include PNG, Malaysia, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Nauru and others.
While advertising the project, Albanese said the most cringe thing ever uttered by an Australian Prime Minister.
Attempting a callback to the Moon landing, Albanese said:
‘Not because it was easy, but because it was hard. That’s the spirit of this endeavour.’
It hurts to type.
‘All of us know that curing cancer, defeating it once and for all, will be hard. But not as hard as the lonely, exhausting, physical, and emotional ordeal of diagnosis and treatment.’
President Biden made the announcement on X:
I’m proud to announce the Quad Cancer Moonshot to end cancer around the world, starting with cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, yet every year 150,000 women in the Indo-Pacific die from it.
We cannot and will not let that continue. pic.twitter.com/SyHYXppHyq
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 22, 2024
‘Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, yet every year 150,000 women in the Indo-Pacific die from it. We cannot let that continue.’
Prime Minister Modi reblogged Biden and added, ‘India fully supports this initiative. Let’s collectively work to strengthen the fight against cancer!’
This will expand on the previously announced Indo-Pacific Initiative for Cervical Cancer (EPICC) which has been funded to $29.6 million in taxpayer dollars.
The full commitment plan of each Quad member can be found in their fact sheet here.
Claims of ‘eradicating cervical cancer from the Pacific!’ must first be met with questions about the results of Australia’s trial of the vaccine. By 2020, 80 per cent of girls and 77 per cent of boys were turning 15 in Australia had been vaccinated as part of the world-first campaign. This means that Australia has physical data about the success of this vaccine trial.
HealthDirect writes:
Australia is set to be the first country to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem, with a study published in the medical journal The Lancet finding it could happen as early as 2028.
Globally in 2020, there were 600,000 new cases of cervical cancer and 340,000 deaths.
Almost every case of cervical cancer is caused by the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV). Immunising people against HPV before they’re sexually active is an effective way to prevent cervical cancer.
By 2015, the rate of HPV infection in young women between 18 and 24 had fallen from 22.7 per cent to 1.5 per cent – a significant decline that might suggest there is a real opportunity to greatly reduce both infection and cervical cancer rates. It is listed as the fourth most common cancer for women.
According to hpvworld.com:
In 2007 Australia became the first country to introduce a publicly funded national school-based HPV vaccination program, delivering three doses of the quadrivalent vaccine to girls aged 12–13 years. Between 2007 and 2009, the program targeted females aged 12-26 through a school-based and community program and has since continued in schools for 12–13-year-old females. From 2013, eligibility was extended to males, with a 2-year catch-up for those aged 14-15 years, making it the first country to introduce gender-neutral vaccination.
The vaccine is not the magic bullet carelessly tossed around by the our leaders, and success rates are found in young people before they are sexually active rather than adults, but based on more than a decade of research, it does appear to have improved the situation for Australian women.
PubMed Central reported:
A sentinel site comparative study (Vaccine Impact in Population (VIP) Study) of women aged 18–24 years attending clinics for Pap testing reported that the 4vHPV-type prevalence declined from 28.7 per cent before the vaccination programme from 2005 to 2007 to 2.3 per cent in vaccinated women (p < 0.0001) from 2010 to 2012. Infections were more common in unvaccinated women or women vaccinated after sexual debut.
This differs from those young women who were born overseas away from the Australian-based vaccine program effectively giving us a control group. They showed no decline in prevalence.
These results are consistent with those of a global meta-analysis of seven studies on HPV prevalence (including the VIP study), which found a 68 per cent decline in HPV 16/18 infection in countries with vaccination coverage of at least 50 per cent.
These are all promising statistics. Unfortunately, whatever the good intentions are of the Quad when it comes to women’s health, it will be for nothing if China’s aggression can’t be brought under control. All we can hope is that this Australian money is spent wisely, unlike the hundreds of millions of dollars gifted to the region for non-existent climate change.
