Biden hails PM Modi's pandemic response, hits out at China

ANI
24 May 2022, 12:07 GMT+10

Tokyo [Japan], May 24 (ANI): Drawing a parallel between "India's success with China's failure" to handle the pandemic, US President Joe Biden praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a closed session of the Quad Leaders' Summit in Tokyo on Tuesday, for handling Covid-19 outbreak in a democratic manner.

According to a senior official, Biden contrasted India's success with China's failure to handle the COVID-19 pandemic while both the countries are of comparable size.

Biden added that PM Modi's success has shown the world that democracies can deliver, and busted the "myth that autocracies like China and Russia can handle the rapidly changing world better because their leadership can take and implement decisions without going through lengthy democratic processes", said the official.

According to the official, these remarks from President Biden appeared to be unscripted, as he made a special intervention to say this before his prepared remarks.

PM Modi met US President Biden today shortly after holding the Quad Leaders' Summit. The meeting marks a continuation of their regular dialogue having interacted most recently in virtual mode on April 11.

The leaders of the Quad nations--Australia, India, Japan, and the United States--met today in Tokyo for the fourth time and the second time in person.

This meeting comes after the fourth interaction of Quad Leaders since their first virtual meeting in March 2021, in-person Summit in Washington D.C. in September 2021 and virtual meeting in March 2022.

The Quad Summit provided an opportunity for the Leaders to exchange views about developments in the Indo-Pacific region and contemporary global issues of mutual interest. The Quad summit taking place witnessed the launch of a new initiative for continuous collaboration in the maritime domain, space, climate change, health and cyber security. (ANI)