QUADrilateral Security Dialogue

Context

The second meeting of the QUAD (Australia-India-Japan-US) is being held in Tokyo, Foreign Ministers of QUAD nations are looking the ways to Unite Allies Against Aggressive China.

Background

The foreign ministers of India, US, Australia and Japan are going to hold discussions on a free and open Indo-Pacific and the raging pandemic amid China’s contentious moves in the region. The meeting of the Quad countries was proposed by India in August-end at the height of tension with China over the military standoff at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.

This is only the second time that the Quad meeting is being held at the ministerial level. The first ministerial meeting of the Quad was in held last year in September in New York. The elevation of the talks to the ministerial level happened two years after the idea of Quad being revived.

Emergence of QUAD

The grouping of four democracies namely India, Australia, US and Japan– known as the quadrilateral security dialogue or quad, was first mooted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007. However, the idea couldn’t move ahead with Australia pulling out of it, apparently due to Chinese pressure. The United States has been moving in all directions to make allies to contain China’s rise. The attempts to engage more with the east through Obama’s ‘Pivot to Asia’ and now ‘Indo-Pacific’ partnerships, all are strategic actions the US is taking. All four nations find a common ground of being the democratic nations and common interests of unhindered maritime trade and security.

The strategy to confront China underscored a growing regional competition between Beijing and Washington. The Quad meeting came as the US appeared to be shifting strategic focus. As the USA had referred to the region as the ‘Indo-Pacific’ rather than the ‘Asia-Pacific’, clearly underlining the policy tilt, which is annoying Beijing.

Roots of QUAD

The Quad traces its origins to the great Asian tsunami of December 26, 2004. Indian ships, aircraft and helicopters were dispatched within hours to assist Sri Lankan, Maldivian and Indonesian neighbours in distress. This swift response established our navy’s credentials as a credible regional force. On the other hand, not a single PLA Navy (PLAN) ship was seen throughout the 2004 tsunami relief operations.

Later, when navies of five nations assembled for a joint exercise off Okinawa, China issued a demarche to India, US, Japan and Australia seeking details about their meeting and terming it a “Quadrilateral initiative”. China’s hostility arouses trepidation amongst Quad members.

Significance of the Tokyo Meet

In a rare departure from the existing precautionary protocols of virtual Summits due to the COVID pandemic, the physical meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the four nations that comprise the QUAD Nations over the next two days in Tokyo assumes significance for many reasons.

Developments over the last few months in the Indo-Pacific as a result of the economic and security fallout of the pandemic and China’s criminal withholding of information about it leading to its spread across geographies were further aggravated by China’s subsequent effort to exploit the vulnerabilities thus created to its advantage.

Its military belligerence across the land border with India in the high Himalayas, ratcheting up the tension with the US in the South China Sea, intimidation of Taiwan and its rabid denouncing of Australia’s and Japan’s attempts to free themselves of Chinese business shackles besides its aggressive actions against some of the ASEAN members have disturbed the fragile security environment in the entire region.

QUAD And Global Order

China is seeking to dominate the region through a combination of hard power, sharp power and economic power. It is threatening Australia with economic sanctions, India and Japan with military belligerence and is smarting from its inability to penetrate national communication networks with Huawei’s 5G technology. China therefore definitely needs to be contained.

An alternate network driven by western technological expertise would substantially dent Chinese sharp power capability. Global markets could absorb the loss of business with China.

The meeting in Tokyo is another opportunity for the Quad to become a meaningful and multi-dimensional comprehensive regional strategic construct in the Indo-Pacific region. The world is reeling from the effects of COVID and its economic fallout.

The Quad nations, three of which are amongst the world’s five largest economies and Australia the 14th ranked can offer a comprehensive economic revival plan through an inclusive aid and development programme on easy terms which could have long term benefits in countering the ambitious Chinese Belt and Road Initiative which is reeling under the effects of its debt-trap diplomacy.

Though to Countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the US has proposed the Blue Dot initiative, It is meant to be a multi stakeholder initiative that aims to bring governments, the private sector and civil society together to promote high quality, trusted standards for global infrastructure development.

Conclusion

India will have to fight its own territorial battles with determination; this is the moment to seek external balancing. A formal revival and re-invigoration of the Quad is called for. It is also time to seek an enlargement of this grouping into a partnership of the like-minded. Other nations feeling the brunt of Chinese brawn may be willing to join an “Indo-Pacific concord” to maintain peace and tranquility and to ensure observance of the UN Law of the Seas.

It is essential for India’s strategic-planners and policy-makers to retain clarity about the reason India has become a partner that is sought after by the US and others.

While India’s status as a nuclear-weapon state and major land/air power, as well as a growing economy and attractive market, has been known, New Delhi’s newfound allure for the US, the Quad and ASEAN is rooted only in its ability to project power and influence in distant ocean reaches.

Connecting the Article

Question for Prelims

In relation to the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), consider the following statements:

1. It includes countries from all continents.
2. Its member countries are from top ten economies of the world.

Which of the statements given above is/ are correct ?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Question for Mains

Is India’s involvement in the QUAD, the forum that involves the US, Japan and Australia, a deviation from traditional policy of non-alignment. Discuss.