We are united by our democratic values and our commitment to a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific. We will work together, closer than ever before on advancing our shared values and promoting a secure, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
- Shri Narendra Modi 丨 Indian Prime Minister
Intro :
Members of the Quadrilateral Framework or ‘Quad’ will become “closer than ever before”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, in his address to the first-ever leadership summit of the grouping.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is also known as the Quad is an informal strategic forum between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States and that is maintained by semi-regular summits, information exchanges, and military drills between member countries.
Addressing the virtual summit, Mr. Modi, President Joe Biden of the United States, Japanese Premier Yoshihide Suga, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison highlighted cooperation among the member countries to beat the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the joint partnership on vaccines and emphasized the need for an “open” and “free” Indo-Pacific region.
History :
The QUAD was originally born in an instant from the crisis that followed the tsunami in 2004. Within days of the disaster, India had mobilized an impressive fleet and demonstrated to the world that it would not just manage its own rescue effort in Tamil Nadu and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands but could also provide assistance to its maritime neighbors: Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Indonesia.
The humanitarian and disaster relief efforts were coordinated in the next few weeks with three other naval powers engaged in the rescue effort : the U.S., Australia, and Japan. The forum was initiated as a dialogue in August 2007 by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on "seas of freedom and prosperity", with the support of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia, and Vice President Dick Cheney of the US. The dialogue was paralleled by the signing of the Japan-Australia Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation in March 2007, and joint military exercises between the United States, India, Japan, and Australia, titled Exercise Malabar, in September. The diplomatic and military arrangement was widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese economic and military power, and the Chinese government responded to the Quad by issuing formal diplomatic protests to its members, calling the alliance Asian NATO.
After negotiations which started during the 2017 ASEAN Summits, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and President Donald Trump of the United States agreeing in Manila to revive the security pact, India, Japan, and the United States continued to hold joint naval exercises as Exercise Malabar through 2019. In 2020 Australia joined the Malabar exercise after an invitation from India making it the first time all members of the Quad will be engaged on a naval basis.
Content :
Quad comprising Japan, India, Australia, and the United States is not an alliance but a grouping of countries that are interested in strengthening a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region. The four countries had in 2017 given shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the “Quad” or the Quadrilateral coalition to counter China’s aggressive behavior in the Indo-Pacific region.
The initiation of an American, Japanese, Australian, and Indian defense arrangement, modeled on the concept of a Democratic Peace, has been credited to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Quadrilateral was supposed to establish an "Asian Arc of Democracy," envisioned to ultimately include countries in Central Asia, Mongolia, the Korean peninsula, and other countries in Southeast Asia: "virtually all the countries on China’s periphery, except for China itself." As the US, Japan, Australia, and India are getting together to cooperate on one issue or another, if there are other countries that want to participate in those discussions or those activities, the door is always open stated the high chair official.
The Cooperation of the Quad becomes important with the growing aggression of China on all border regions such as the encroachment along the lines of LAC with India and its aggression in the international waters of the South China Sea in the Indo-Pacific. Moreover, the Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific has also been strongly opposed by the US, India, Australia, Japan, and ASEAN countries.
At its core, the Quad is a symbolic and substantive addition to an existing network of strategic and defense cooperation among four highly capable Indo-Pacific democracies that are increasingly aligned in their shared concerns on regional security. The group’s revival was a form of geopolitical signaling from the four democracies, a way to tell China: “We’re watching, and we’re alarmed.”
Conclusion :
Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) has become a mode of geopolitical signaling today. The Quad signals the commitment of big powers to be present in the Indo-Pacific. This evolution in New Delhi’s strategic thinking matters a great deal because India is central to the Quad.
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