After the ＂four-nation strategy＂ was put forward, the United States, Japan, India and Australia held their first meeting, and their expressions were different after the meeting.

On November 12th, local time, officials from the diplomatic departments of the United States, India, Japan and Australia held a formal meeting during the APEC Leaders’ Informal Meeting in Vietnam.

As early as October, US Secretary of State Tillerson delivered her first policy speech on India at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an American think tank, which mentioned that "we are benefiting from the important trilateral relationship between the United States, India and Japan. And when we look to the future, there is still room for inviting others, including Australia, to join in building our common goals and initiatives. " This meeting in Da Nang, Vietnam is also the first communication between the four countries since the US government put forward the "four-way relationship".

It is worth noting that this meeting did not issue a formal joint communique, statement or press release, but released the results of the meeting in the form of their own announcements. The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) compared the four versions of conference news released by the State Council, Indian Foreign Ministry, Japanese Foreign Ministry and official website of Australian Foreign Ministry, and found that the similarities and differences among them were quite noteworthy.

The American version is the longest and the Japanese version is the shortest.

Only from the English version, the news version published by the State Council in the United States is the longest, with 158 English words. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the shortest version, with only 123 words, including three complete sentences.

Among them, the Australian version of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is almost identical to that of the State Council, USA, only a few words are replaced by synonyms, and the total length is very close (157 words).

This may be related to the close relationship between Australia and the United States. As one of the oldest allies of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia fought side by side with the US military in the Pacific battlefield as early as World War II. After World War II, the United States and Australia signed the Pacific Security Treaty in 1951, which established a military alliance between the United States and Australia, nine years earlier than the security treaty between the United States and Japan and two years earlier than the security treaty between the United States and South Korea. After entering the 21st century, Australia has actively sent troops to participate in the American-led wars against Afghanistan, Iraq and the extremist organization "Islamic State".

The theme of the meeting: Japan pays more attention to "measures"

According to news from the State Council, the theme of the meeting was "a common vision for enhancing prosperity and security in a free and open Indian Ocean-Pacific region".

This theme has basically been echoed by other three of the four countries. Among them, Australia is the closest to the United States. In the news released by the Australian Foreign Ministry, the expression of the theme of the meeting is completely consistent with that of the US.

The version of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the participants discussed "relevant measures to ensure a free and open order based on the rule of law in the Indian Ocean-Pacific region". It can be found that, unlike the "shared vision" in which the United States and Australia emphasize relative retreat, Japan places more emphasis on the "measures" involved in the meeting.

It is worth noting the statement of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the news released by the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the main content discussed by all parties is "issues of common interests in the Indian Ocean-Pacific region", and the words "freedom" and "openness" are not emphasized. It was only in the penultimate paragraph that the specific contents of the talks were introduced that "all parties agreed that a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indian Ocean-Pacific region is in the long-term interests of all countries in the region and beneficial to the world as a whole."

The focus of the discussion is different from each other.

In the editions published by the Foreign Ministries of the State Council and Australia, the specific connotation of "a free and open Indian Ocean-Pacific region" is introduced in detail, which is divided into four aspects: first, supporting "rule-based order" in the region, including safeguarding freedom of navigation and flight, respecting international law and peacefully resolving disputes; Second, to strengthen the degree of regional interconnection, the premise is "in line with international law and standards" and based on "prudent financing"; Third, strengthen anti-terrorism and maritime security cooperation; Fourth, strengthen cooperation in the field of curbing nuclear proliferation.

In the statement of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the contents of the first three aspects are very brief, but the issue of curbing nuclear proliferation is emphasized. Japan refers to nuclear proliferation as "threat", while the United States refers to it as "nuclear program and illegal activities" and India refers to it as "nuclear proliferation in affected areas".

In addition, Japan also stressed that in order to deal with this "threat", "maximum pressure should be given", which does not exist in the versions of the other three countries.

Compared with the versions of the United States, Australia and Japan, the version of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is relatively vague in introducing the contents of the talks, and pays more attention to the consensus in principle among all parties. "The common vision and values of (participants) are to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the (Indian Ocean-Pacific region), which is shared by all parties and other partners and is increasingly interconnected. The discussion at the meeting focused on cooperation based on this common vision and values."

Among the four points mentioned in the American and Australian versions, the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs only briefly mentioned the topic of maritime security and non-proliferation at the bottom of the news, and did not mention the name of any particular organization or country. There is no direct mention of "supporting rule-based order" in the first place in the American version.

In addition, the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated that during the talks, India emphasized that the "Act East Policy" was a "turning point" for India to participate in Indian Ocean-Pacific affairs. This is also the only meeting content mentioned by India and not mentioned by other parties.

Trump administration’s new Asian policy?

Just two days ago at the APEC Business Leaders Summit, US President Trump repeatedly mentioned the term "India-Pacific" in his speech. In his speech, Trump appreciated the efforts of Vietnam and other countries to implement an open economy and proposed to establish a "new partnership" with Asia-Pacific countries. Its characteristics include "respecting sovereignty and independence", "based on fairness and reciprocity", "everyone should abide by the rules" and "investment led by private enterprises rather than government plans".

Trump said that those countries that are willing to follow these standards will become partners of the United States, and for those countries that are unwilling to do so, "the United States will no longer turn a blind eye."

The American "Diplomatic Scholar" magazine published on the 11th that in Vietnam, the fourth stop of Trump’s five-nation Asian tour, Trump finally put forward his new Asian policy. However, it seems that Trump’s "free and open Indian Ocean-Pacific region" is neither free nor open unless American partners take on more responsibilities.

"The so-called quadrilateral mechanism looks lively, but there are many disagreements." Zhang Jiadong, director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at Fudan University, had previously analyzed The Paper. "First of all, India and the United States have different expectations of this mechanism: India wants to win over the United States to counter the’ threat’ from China and maintain its hegemonic position in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, while the United States does not want any country in the world to have this position in any region. There is no intersection of power between India and Japan, and the strategic synergy can only be formed through the United States, which will lead to the cooperation mechanism being dominated by the United States, which does not meet the needs of India to become a regional power. As for Australia, it has interests in both the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and it does not want an Indian Ocean dominated by India. "

Long Xingchun, director of the Indian Studies Center of China West Normal University and a senior researcher at the Chahar Institute, told the The Paper that the cliché s about "rules" and "China Unicom meeting international standards" emphasized by the United States clearly pointed to China’s South China Sea policy and the "Belt and Road Initiative". But from India’s point of view, it is not in its own interest to follow these arguments completely. “

Although India regards China as a potential strategic opponent, after all, it is adjacent to China, and its comprehensive national strength is still far behind that of China, "Long Xingchun said." If you fully accept the arguments of the United States and Japan, it is equivalent to taking the risk of damaging Sino-Indian relations, which is not worth the loss for India. "

Recently, Japan and the United States have repeatedly mentioned the India-Pacific strategy, expressing the hope to promote the four countries of Japan, America, India and Australia to build a leader-level strategic dialogue mechanism. China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a regular press conference on October 13th that it is the common responsibility of all countries in the Asia-Pacific region to promote stability and prosperity. China hopes that the policies formulated and actions taken by all parties concerned will conform to the trend of the times of peace, cooperation, friendship and development and be conducive to maintaining and promoting regional peace, prosperity and stability.

Geng Shuang emphasized that all parties can put forward their own ideas and ideas on how to promote regional cooperation. The relevant ideas and propositions put forward should be open and inclusive, and should be conducive to promoting win-win cooperation between all parties and avoiding politicized and exclusive arrangements.