Without mentioning China, leaders of four large democracies — the United States, India, Japan and Australia — have reiterated their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region that is “undaunted by coercion.”

U.S. President Joe Biden hosted the Quad Leaders Summit on Friday, where the prime ministers of India, Japan and Australia gathered in Washington, D.C., for their first in-person meeting.

“Together, we recommit to promoting the free, open, rules-based order, rooted in international law and undaunted by coercion, to bolster security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” Biden, along with India’s Narendra Modi, Japan’s Yoshihide Suga and Australia’s Scott Morrison, said in a joint statement.

The statement did not mention China or its rising influence in the region, as the country grows more assertive in the much-contested South China Sea and East China Sea, and regularly patrols the waters there.

“We stand for the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values, and territorial integrity of states,” they added.

The four countries have an alliance called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, that positions itself as being committed to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

In some circles, the Quad is seen as an anti-China alliance in part due to Beijing’s increasingly aggressive moves in the East China Sea and South China Sea in recent years.

Quad members have taken part in joint naval exercises and stepped up defense partnerships with one another.

However, the group has shied away from explicitly mentioning China in its public statements, focusing instead on common issues such as Covid-19 and global health, infrastructure, and climate change.

More here: Read the full report on CNBC’s Quad project, including data visualizations, maps and a timeline

Still, Beijing’s presence remains an overhang.

China’s presence can be felt in many of the efforts that the Quad member countries want to pursue. These include vaccine diplomacy technology cooperation and maritime security. Harsh Pant is the head for strategic studies at the Observer Research Foundation.

Pant said Monday that this was the goal of these countries, which is to give an alternative to China’s model. He explained that for many small states of the Indo-Pacific the choice between pursuing China and not pursuing China is the only option.

Beijing has an ambitious Belt and Road initiative designed to expand on China’s global influence by building out rail and maritime trade routes connecting the country with central Asia, Europe and Africa.

China, for its part believes the Quad alliance will fail.

In a press conference Friday, Zhao Lijian (Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson) stated that “a closed-off clique targeting others countries runs contrary to the trend in the times and the aspirations for regional countries.”

He added, “It won’t find any support and it is doomed for failure.”

The Quad announced a number of new initiatives on Friday, and vowed to step up to existing commitments.

They include:

Covid-19 vaccines
U.S., India, Japan and Australia pledged to donate more than 1.2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines globally — that’s in addition to the shots the four countries already financed through the international vaccine access facility for low-income countries, known as Covax. India, the world’s biggest vaccine producer, announced it would begin exporting vaccines from next month.

Quad infrastructure coordination group
The leaders announced a group that will coordinate efforts to build high quality infrastructure and provide technical assistance to regional partners to meet the Indo-Pacific region’s infrastructure needs.

Tackling climate change
Addressing climate change has been one of the major talking points for the Quad. The quad announced numerous measures, such as establishing a network for green-shipping where the major ports of each country will be invited to collaborate to lower carbon emissions in their shipping value chains.

Critical and emerging technologies
With regard to critical and emerging technologies like 5G, the Quad announced plans to establish a semiconductor supply chain initiative to map and identify vulnerabilities and secure access to semiconductors and their vital components.

Space
The four countries plan to cooperate on space technology by setting up a new working group that will discuss ways to exchange Earth observation satellite data and analysis on climate change risks.