China testing us, Joe Biden caught telling Quad leaders on hot mic

US President Joe Biden was caught on a hot mic telling leaders of the Quad nations that China was testing them thus reflecting upon the American seriousness of the emerging Chinese threatBidens remark came during the Quad Leaders Summit on Saturday which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio KishidaWe believe Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges and minimise the turbulence in China Biden told the leaders at the SummitHis opening remarks were caught on the hot mic as pool reporters were leaving the Summit venue Biden was heard saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping is looking to buy himself some diplomatic space in my view to aggressively pursue Chinas interestBiden added that China continues to behave aggressively testing us all across the region on several fronts including on economic and technology issuesAt the same time we believe intense competition requires intense diplomacy he saidLater a senior administration official tried to downplay the errorI dont think I have much to elaborate on that Its consistent with what has been said before and I dont think itll be much of a surprise that our inside voice matches our outside voice the official saidI think its not surprising that China would have been on the agenda Its an IndoPacific convening This is an IndoPacific partnership China is a major country in the IndoPacific But I think its also fair to say that there were a number of other topics on the agenda said the officialChina is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China SeaIt claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea Vietnam Malaysia the Philippines Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaimsThe fourmember Quad or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue advocates upholding a free open and inclusive IndoPacific China claims that the grouping aims to contain its riseThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever