Australia rules out Quad summit going ahead in Sydney after Biden cancels visit

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out a so-called Quad summit taking place in Sydney without President Biden, saying the four leaders involved would talk instead at the Group of 7 meeting this weekend in Japan.

Albanese said Wednesday that he understands why Biden pulled out of the summit to focus on debt-limit talks in Washington since they are crucial to the U.S. and global economy. The summit of leaders from democratic nations in the Asia-Pacific region, which would have included the prime ministers of India and Japan, had been scheduled for May 24.

“The blocking and the disruption that’s occurring in domestic politics in the United States with the debt-ceiling issue means that, because that has to be solved prior to 1st June ... he understandably has had to make that decision,” Albanese told reporters, adding; “You can’t have a Quad leaders’ meeting when there are only three out of the four there.”

Biden “expressed very much his disappointment” at being unable to come to the Sydney summit and to the Australian capital, Canberra, a day earlier to address the Parliament, Albanese said.

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The four Quad leaders will soon be together in Hiroshima, Japan, for the G-7 summit and are planning to meet there, he said.

“The Quad is an important body, and we want to make sure that it occurs at leadership level, and we’ll be having that discussion over the weekend,” Albanese said.

He said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would still visit Sydney next week, noting that Modi is scheduled to give an address to the Indian diaspora at a sold-out 20,000-seat stadium Tuesday. But Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will not visit.