Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday a Quad summit would not go ahead in Sydney next week without the U.S.
President Joe Biden postponed his trip to Australia due to debt ceiling negotiations in Washington.
Albanese said the leaders of Australia, the United States, India and Japan would instead meet at the G7 in Japan this weekend, after Biden canceled a trip to Sydney on the second leg of his upcoming Asia trip, which was also to have included a visit to Papua New Guinea.
A bilateral programme in Sydney with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi could still go ahead next week, Albanese said.
The Quad is an informal group that promotes an open Indo-Pacific.
Beijing sees it as an attempt to push back against its growing influence in the region.
Asia Society Policy Institute senior fellow Richard Maude said the cancellation of Biden’s visit to Papua New Guinea, which would have been the first visit by an American president to an independent Pacific islands nation, could set back Washington’s battle for influence with Beijing in the region.
India and Australia are not part of the G7 group of seven rich nations – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – but have been invited to attend the summit in Japan.
