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What the article is about?
- Talks about the goal and prospects of QUAD in the light of recent summit.
Syllabus: GS-II International relations, Regional groupings
QUAD:
- The quadrilateral security dialogue includes Japan, India, United States and Australia.
- All four nations find a common ground of being the democratic nations and common interests of unhindered maritime trade and security.
- The grouping traces its genesis to 2004 when the four countries came together to coordinate relief operations in the aftermath of the tsunami.
- It then met for the first time in 2007 on the sidelines of the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
- The intention was to enhance maritime cooperation between the four nations.
- The recent summit meeting of the leaders of the Quad, could not have come at a more critical juncture in world politics.
- Between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that has destabilised accepted norms on respecting territorial sovereignty; its knock-on effects on commodity and input prices, fuelling inflationary pressures and impacting global supply chains; and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that spotlighted deficiencies in public health infrastructure, the leaders of India, the United States, Australia and Japan are likely to have had a full and multidimensional policy agenda in Tokyo.
- On China the four nations were on the same page, and the Quad joint statement called for continued cooperation towards maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific; championing adherence to international law as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and in maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight; and meeting challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the East and South China Seas.
Outcome:
- The Quad leaders affirmed the Dialogue’s two core messages.
- First, they will continue to strongly oppose coercive, provocative, and unilateral actions by Beijing that seek to change the status quo and heighten tensions across the region, including through manoeuvres such as the militarisation of disputed territories, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and clandestine attempts to disrupt other nations’ offshore resource exploitation activities. To this end, military coordination between the Dialogue members will continue to provide strategic depth to the mission, including notably the annual Malabar exercise.
- The second message seeks to leverage Dialogue member resources in vaccine delivery, climate action, supply chain resilience, disaster response, cyber security infrastructure, and economic cooperation.
Conclusion
- Even though Beijing may consider the Quad to be an “Asian NATO”, the Dialogue can be about much more than a strategic pushback on China’s hegemonic intentions.
