Comments
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have issued a joint statement expressing their shock at the tragic death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who played a “formative role’‘ in the Quad partnership between the US, India, Japan and Australia.
The leaders said that they would redouble their work towards a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region to honour Abe's memory.
"Prime Minister Abe was a transformative leader for Japan and for Japanese relations with each one of our countries. He also played a formative role in the founding of the Quad partnership, and worked tirelessly to advance a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific," the joint statement said.
Abe, one of Japan's most influential leaders, was shot by a gunman on Friday morning in the city of Nara while delivering a speech at a campaign even for a parliamentary election. He died a few hours later. Japan has strict gun laws and violent crimes are rare in the country.
"Our hearts are with the people of Japan — and Prime Minister Kishida— in this moment of grief," the statement said.
Abe initiated the idea of forming the Quad, a strategic security dialogue between Japan, India, the US and Australia, back in 2007, but the idea was not taken forward at that time due to various reasons, including protests from China.
The Quad was revived in 2017, and now all four members keen on focussing on the Indo-Pacific region and checking China's growing influence. The Quad leaders held their first formal summit in 2021.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.