It was just a coincidence that India was hosting the Quad foreign ministers’ meet this year when it was also supposed to be the venue for the summit of Quad leaders.
The infusion of fresh energy and the restoration of a sense of purpose that the group of four seemed to have lost after US-India ties started plummeting in the wake of tariff threats represents a positive takeaway from the Quad meet of foreign ministers in New Delhi.
The assurance that India is not totally out of a group of elite nations may have come with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit, in the early part of which he hit all the right notes to emphasise that the US was indeed keen on reshaping ties after the fracas over trade and consumption of discounted Russian oil.
It was just a coincidence that India was hosting the Quad foreign ministers’ meet this year when it was also supposed to be the venue for the summit of Quad leaders. The positive push with new initiatives for the group whose strategic significance has increased manifold with the China factor is important at a time of churning geopolitics.
India’s spot in US strategic thinking may also be on the upswing with the concerns that the current situation is throwing up with China’s assertive moves in the East China and South China seas that included “dangerous manoeuvres by military aircraft and coast guard vessels, especially the use of water cannons and ramming or blocking actions” impeding free movement of maritime and aerial resources of the nations of the region.
China, always fearful that democracies tend to gang up on it, was unhappy to the extent of calling Quad an exclusive clique as it berated what it called a bloc confrontation. But Chinese actions in the region have led to Quad sharpening its responses by spelling out four major initiatives: a first-ever Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Cooperation, a framework to ease China-related pressures on critical minerals, an energy security framework that will include help with shoring up energy reserves, and a partnership in future ports.
It is an important development that Quad is ready to do something about interference in freedom of navigation and overflight that China has been practising in a demonstrative show of flexing its muscle while being blatant about its territorial ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region. The eternal race for premier superpower slots may be driving much of China’s sharp words, but it is its aggressive posturing in the Indo-Pacific region that is causing anxiety, especially to the three nations nearer China that make up the Quad.
Between 2017, when it was revived to counter China’s growing influence in the region, and now, Quad was more of a cooperative grouping of nations than a strategic alliance. It is in this meeting that the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue has shown intent to move on from just being a strategic forum to discuss issues and be more active in promoting regional security and sharing crucial information on maritime security. For instance, helping Fiji enhance its port is its first action in infrastructure development in a far-flung region that will also serve its maritime security initiative and support for undersea cable connectivity in the Pacific Islands.
The commonality of views on many issues, including the West Asia situation, should ensure harmony as the group aims to be more active. Japan and Australia were happy with the exchange of perspectives and an understanding of domain awareness, and India was pleased as punch about its relevance being re-established as a global power.
