India has declared that only the Quad, the security dialogue group consisting of India, the US, Australia, and Japan, can guarantee freedom, stability, and security in the Indo-Pacific region, which is facing an escalating threat from China’s increasingly aggressive territorial assertions. The Quad foreign ministers convened on Monday in Tokyo, Japan, where they expressed “serious concerns” regarding the situation in the Indo-Pacific, including the South China Sea. India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar affirmed that the Quad is dedicated to establishing a free, open, and rules-based order within the region.
During a post-meeting press conference, Jaishankar provided insights into the Quad’s objectives and trajectory. He emphasized the profound integration of the Quad into India’s foreign policies, highlighting the extensive engagement between government agencies and stakeholders across diverse sectors. This collaboration, he stated, has been spearheaded by national leaders, driving the Quad’s progress.
Jaishankar underlined the Quad’s comprehensive agenda, spanning a wide range of initiatives. These include collaborating on trusted telecom technology and undersea cable connectivity, humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR), critical and emerging technologies, cyber and health security, climate action, infrastructure development, capacity building and training, STEM education, maritime domain awareness, and counterterrorism. He emphasized that this list represents merely a fraction of the Quad’s multifaceted activities, highlighting the existence of 16 working groups and the commitment to expanding its scope.
In a pointed rebuttal to Chinese officials who have dismissed the Quad as a naive attempt to challenge China’s dominance in the region, Jaishankar asserted that the Quad is not merely a talking shop but a platform that generates practical outcomes. He cited concrete examples, including HADR cooperation resulting in joint naval understanding and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness initiative connecting information fusion centers, the deployment of Open-RAN network technology in Palau, the forthcoming launch of a space-based climate warning system in Mauritius, ongoing off-grid solar projects in Indo-Pacific islands, vaccine delivery cooperation during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the successful completion of the first cohort of Quad STEM fellowships, with a second cohort encompassing the ASEAN region.
Jaishankar emphasized the interconnectedness of democracy, pluralism, and the Quad’s objectives. He stated that the shared democratic values, pluralistic societies, and market economies of the four Quad nations underscore their collective commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, a rules-based order, and global good. This united vision, he argued, serves as a powerful stabilizing force in a world characterized by uncertainty and volatility.
India’s foreign minister further underscored the robust interactive dynamics between the Quad and the respective bilateral and trilateral relationships of its member nations. Progress on one front, he maintained, strengthens the others, amplifying the value of the Quad. The Quad has also actively engaged with other nations in the region to advance shared goals.
Jaishankar concluded his remarks with a note of caution, acknowledging that these are challenging times. He stressed that achieving stability, security, progress, and prosperity requires trusted partners and international cooperation. The Quad, he asserted, stands as a contemporary embodiment of both.
The Quad’s origins can be traced back to November 2017 when India, Japan, the US, and Australia formalized a long-standing proposal to establish the group. Its core aim is to develop a strategy that safeguards critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific from any external influence. The South China Sea, located at the juncture of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, has become a focal point of contention. China claims most of the South China Sea as its own territory, while neighboring nations, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan, have counterclaims over this maritime region. China, with the world’s largest navy, is embroiled in a maritime dispute with Japan over the East China Sea and routinely challenges its oceanic neighbors.
