Biden Gave Cold Shoulder To PM Modi At QUAD Summit? No, Viral Video Is Clipped

Authors

Vasudha Beri

Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.

Amid the social media buzz surrounding the recently concluded QUAD summit in Tokyo, a 14-second video clip is being widely shared among Twitter users claiming to show the US President, Joe Biden “ignoring” PM Modi at the high profile summit.

The video shows PM Modi and his Australian counterpart walking towards the US President and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida after which POTUS Biden can be seen shaking hands with newly elected Australian PM, Anthony Albanese. PM Modi appears to be attempting to join their conversation by patting and touching Albanese’s arm, but the two leaders, engrossed in their conversation, appear to ignore the Indian PM. Newschecker has found that the video being shared does not show the full story of what transpired at the event.

National Spokesperson of the Indian Youth Congress and twitter user @nehajoychauhan, shared the video on May 24, 2022, alleging that PM Modi was “royally ignored” at the summit and also raised questions about the PM’s body language in the video. The full tweet can be seen below and an archived version can be accessed here.

The same video was shared by other twitter users with similar captions claiming that PM Modi was “ignored” by US President Joe Biden.

Archived versions of these Tweets can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT IS THE QUAD?

Members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the QUAD, namely India, Japan, Australia and the US met for their fourth interaction in Tokyo, Japan to discuss “developments in the Indo Pacific region and global issues of mutual interest.” It was created in 2004 after the Indian ocean tsunami that ravaged the southern Indian coast to provide humanitarian and disaster assistance. The group was formalised by former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe in 2007. After remaining dormant for nearly a decade, it was revived in 2017 and the Quad leaders held their first formal summit in 2021.

This is also the QUAD’s second summit since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022. Addressing the QUAD, President Biden said that the world is “navigating a dark hour in our shared history” with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He added that the war has now become a “global issue” underscoring the importance of defending international order.  Notably, the US has been vocal against Russia since it invaded Ukraine, while India has maintained a rather diplomatic stance on the entire issue. It is likely that the differences in their opinions on the Russian invasion dubbed as a ‘military operation’ led people to believe that Biden actually ignored Modi at the summit.

Also Read: Sharad Pawar Called Himself ‘Baap’ Of Hindu Gods? Here’s The Truth Behind The Viral Claim

Fact Check/Verification

A keyword search for ‘Modi Albanese Biden at QUAD 2022’ on Google led us to a report titled ‘New Australia PM welcomed at Quad by PM, Biden day after oath’ by the Hindustan Times published on May 24, 2022.

Displaying the video of the four QUAD leaders at the same summit in Tokyo, the report talked about how the newly elected Australian PM Albanese was received by the other leaders. 

It is to be noted that the video in the HT report is 1 minute 34 seconds long, whereas the viral video is only 14 seconds long. The HT report attributes the video to Reuters which we found after further looking on Google search.

On comparing the keyframes of the viral video with the one featured in the HT report, we concluded that the latter is a longer version of the same event. In the 1 minute 34 second long version, President Biden can be seen talking and laughing with PM Modi as well.

A longer version of the viral video was also posted by the news agency ANI on Twitter on May 24, 2022 with the caption, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Anthony Albanese and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida assemble for Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo.” 

25 seconds into the 1 minute 10 second long video, President Biden can be seen greeting and shaking hands with Modi before posing for a photograph with all the QUAD leaders.

The official YouTube channel of news outlet WION also uploaded the full version of the video dated May 24, 2022, in which PM Modi and PM Albanese can be seen walking towards President Biden and PM Kishida. Following this, the leaders can be seen exchanging a laugh before posing for the photograph.

Multiple news outlets shared the video on their official YouTube channels. You can watch it here, here and here.

Bidens opening statement

In his opening remarks at the summit, Biden said, “And, Prime Minister Modi, it’s wonderful to see you again in person.  The — and I thank you for your continuing commitment to making sure democracies deliver, because that’s what this is about: democracies versus autocracies.  And we have to make sure we deliver.”

Ahead of his bilateral meeting with Modi, President Biden said that he was pleased that the US and India had reached an agreement for the  US Development Finance Corporation to continue its important work in India supporting vaccine production, clean energy initiatives.  He added, “I am also glad we’re renewing the Indo-U.S. Vaccine Action Program.” Biden said that he was looking forward to his talks with Modi and added, “I am committed to making the U.S.-India partnership among the closest we have on Earth.”

Reportedly, Biden also praised for handling the COVID pandemic “successfully” and contrasted India’s success with China’s “failure” in dealing with coronavirus, according to a senior Indian official.

Conclusion

A clipped portion of a longer video is being shared out of context to show that President Biden gave cold shoulder to PM Modi at the recently concluded QUAD summit in Tokyo. Biden’s remarks at the QUAD summit indicate that he is glad about initiatives India and US are undertaking together and is pleased with the partnership between two countries.

Result: False Context/Missing Context

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Authors

Vasudha Beri

Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.