The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) involving the US, Japan, Australia and India is once again in focus with the second individual Quad Leaders Summit in Japan this week. In September last year, US President Joe Biden hosted the first in-person meeting of the Quad leaders in Washington. The Japan summit, which will witness the first overseas visit of new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese soon after being elected, will see the leaders of the four countries assess the progress of the group’s agenda and engage each other on development in the Indo-Pacific. will allow to do. Also around the world at a time when a significant change is taking place in the global order. With the world focused on the Ukraine crisis, the message from the Quad summit will be loud and clear: while the Russian offensive against Ukraine will reshape the priorities of key stakeholders in Eurasia, the Indo-Pacific remains the focus of global attention . China’s challenge is not going anywhere and like-minded democracies of the world are intent on giving a good fight to China.
Beijing recognizes this reality, and therefore, when it comes to the Quad, its response betrays its concerns. Reacting to the US Indo-Pacific strategy ahead of the Quad summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the strategy is “bound to fail” as it is vigorously promoted by Washington to “involve” Beijing. Is. He said the Indo-Pacific strategy is “cooked up” by the US in the name of “freedom and openness”, aimed at containing China and making regional countries “claws” of US hegemony.
These are all old claims that Beijing has been parroting since the advent of a multi-country plan for the ‘Indo-Pacific’ as the name suggests. But whatever steps regional players have taken to realize the creation of the Indo-Pacific, China’s diatribe has become acrimonious. For all its attempts to undermine the idea of the Indo-Pacific as a separate region, it is now a strategic reality. The Trump administration in the US formally supported it, and now the Biden administration clearly intends to intensify it. Quad’s ambitions and visibility have only grown over the years. China remains with ‘Asia-Pacific’, underlining that the change in nomenclature “is also about erasing the achievements and momentum of peaceful development created by the concerted efforts of countries in the region over the past decades.”
The Quad agenda is evolving and the ambitions of the four countries now include key areas of convergence such as trade, infrastructure, maritime security, health, climate change and emerging technologies. The idea is about enhancing ties between the four members as it is about providing credible alternatives to regional states that often end up without any real option but to seek Chinese help. There is a huge demand in the region for the provision of public goods and is seen as the key to ensuring their supply to the Four Quad Nations.
Even so, the Quad is not a formal alliance. It is a response to an institutional void in the vast oceanic geography of the Indo-Pacific. It is a loose coalition of like-minded countries willing to work together on an issue-based agenda. While this has emerged as an example in the realm of contemporary global institutional development, it is also very natural that there will be areas where disagreements between the four states will have to be carefully navigated.
This should not be surprising. Nor should it generate unnecessary pessimism. The war in Ukraine is one such example where India stands apart from the other three countries in its response. New Delhi has been careful to distance Russia from its engagement with other countries, even as it continues to support the centrality of international law, the United Nations Charter and the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty in its response to the crisis. India may also face pressure on the issue of food security in the backdrop of its recent decision to ban wheat exports.
India, despite these differences, remains at the heart of the Indo-Pacific and is critical to the success of the Quad. As a successful democracy, a leading economy and a military power that is ready and able to back down against Chinese expansionism, India’s role is central to the evolving geopolitical system in the region. It is, therefore, not surprising that other members of the Quad, both as part of the grouping and bilaterally, are keen to see their other differences with India. In the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Indian position is better understood and its constraints are appreciated.
The challenge now for the Quad is to define its agenda faster and with more clarity. There is also a need to show the ability of this platform to deliver on the ground. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation in talks on the US-sponsored Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) in Tokyo underscores the fact that the Quad members are finally putting their economic work together. Even if that effort progresses, the safety dimension of the quad needs to be defined more tightly.
Quad means the business is now clear. One only has to look at the growing list of countries that want to join the platform. But how effectively the Quad conducts its business depends on the four member states and how well they are able to demonstrate the seriousness of intent as a group.
China’s pushback against the Indo-Pacific and Quad is no longer a challenge. The real issue is the internal solidarity and long-term commitment of the Quad members, making it one of the most important strategic actors in the world. The Tokyo summit should begin work to address this.
Harsh V. Pant is Professor of International Relations at King’s College London