The Quad summit that was supposed to take place in Sydney next week has been cancelled. This is because the US President, Joe Biden, cancelled the meeting due to concerns that the US may default on its debt obligations. The Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, confirmed this news on Wednesday. It is now likely that all four leaders – Albanese, Indian PM Narendra Modi, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden – will meet on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Japan this weekend.
Albanese said that it is still possible that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sydney next week. Biden had to cancel his attendance because he is busy hashing out a deal with the Republicans to prevent the US from defaulting on its debts at the end of May. Albanese said that Biden felt “disappointed” that he could not visit Australia and the Quad leaders will try to hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Leadership Summit in Hiroshima.
Albanese added that they are in discussions with the Quad leaders over today and will make further announcements about that. He also said that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would visit Sydney next week. Biden had initially intended to visit Australia and Papua New Guinea, but the leg of his trip to Australia was cancelled. The most recent visit by a sitting US President to Australia was in 2014, when Barack Obama made the trip.
