Beijing has warned the Quad nations against raising South China Sea disputes at their upcoming leaders' summit in Manila, with Chinese state-backed media dismissing the meeting as a hasty geopolitical manoeuvre.

The leaders of India, Japan, Australia and the United States are expected to meet on the margins of the ASEAN summit starting on 16 November, for what will be the first Quad leaders' summit in two years. While an official announcement about the summit is still awaited, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the leaders of the grouping will meet in the Philippines. President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to China from Manila for the APEC summit.

An opinion piece in the Global Times said the grouping, which it described as a "small circle" that had been dormant for two years, had "finally been dusted off and brought back from the freezer by the US administration". The piece warned: "If certain countries seek to use a small-circle summit to openly demonstrate their intention to interfere in South China Sea affairs, China will inevitably oppose it resolutely."

Tensions around the summit

The leaders' summit takes place amid renewed China-Philippines maritime tensions, allowing the United States to reinforce its continued presence in the region. Both Beijing and Moscow see the Quad as a China containment alliance.

This will be the first Quad leaders' summit since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan in 2024, which opened the door for the normalisation of Sino-Indian ties. The grouping says it aims to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific, while Beijing has long opposed what it sees as attempts to internationalise the South China Sea disputes.