QUAD Summit 2021: The Significance and Way Forward

On March 12, 2021, the first QUAD Summit took place, and ever since the summit has been making headlines about the same. The summit attended by 4 thriving nations: India, Japan, Australia, and the United States, addressed various substances.

The QUAD summit however leads us to various questions: What QUAD is, why China is concerned about the summit, what do the nations gain from this and how this effect would all 4 countries for a better way forward. Let us look into these questions in a little deeper way, by answering them one by one.

What Is QUAD?

QUAD, Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is an informational strategic discourse between India, Japan, Australia, and the United States. 

QUAD began as an ad-hoc group in the year 2004, after the Indian Ocean tsunami where more than 220,000 people lost their lives across 14 countries. This tsunami was one of the deadliest natural disasters in history.

 

Thereon, India, Japan, Australia, and the United States came together to form the Tsunami Core Group. The 4 countries contributed about 40,000 troops, dozens of helicopters, cargo planes and together worked for tsunami relief and reconstruction and was dissolved as soon as the purpose was fulfilled. 

The group impressed the world with their diplomacy and cooperative work idea.

Later on, in 2007, the dialogue was initiated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia, and with the help of Vice President Dick Cheney of the United States.

The exchange was resembled by joint military activities on an exceptional state, named Exercise Malabar.

But the QUAD stopped after the withdrawal of Australia during Kevin Redd’s residency as Prime Minister, reflecting vacillation in Australian arrangement over the developing pressure between the United States and China in the Asia – Pacific.

During the 2017 ASEAN summits in Manila, every one of the four previous individuals drove by Narendra Damodar Das Modi, Shinzo Abe, Malcolm Turnbull, and Donald Trump consented to restore the quadrilateral collusion to counter China Militarily and carefully in the south China Sea. 

Pressures between QUAD individuals and China have prompted fears of what was named by certain analysts as “A new Cold War” in the region.

In a 2021 joint articulation, “The Script of the QUAD”, QUAD individuals portrayed “a common vision for a free and Indo – Pacific”. The QUAD swore to react to covid-19 and held a first QUAD Plus gathering that included delegates from New Zealand, South Korea, and Vietnam.

Significance for the Countries Involved 

For the United States, the early push for the QUAD commitment is essential for Joe Biden’s guarantee that “America is back” as far as world - Wide leadership, reaffirming territorial alliances, and taking on developing challenge from China is concerned.

Prior, Biden at the Munich Security Conference attempted to win back European partners like Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, by proposing a transatlantic alliance to counter China. 

Due to maritime pressures with China, exchange, and media transmission issues Australia and Japan are enthusiastic about taking the QUAD Association to more profound degrees of participation. 

QUAD Partners such as Japan and Australia were troubled over India’s choice to avoid the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. On the off chance that QUAD arises as an economic powerhouse, it will be helpful to the whole region.

For India, the new terms of the QUAD will mean more strategic support following a strained year at the LAC with China. It will likewise give a boost to India’s pharmaceutical power, opportunities for technological partnership, and more roads for local participation in advancement activities.

India's emphasis on a comprehensive methodology was with regards to the assessments of numerous more modest nations around there, which may not take an unequivocal enemy of China's position. This could likewise make ready for India to turn into the assembling objective for QUAD nations, along these lines lessening reliance on China. 

 

What Does China Think of Quad?

The QUAD summit’s agenda was development, Wuhan virus vaccination, cooperation in the Indo – Pacific, climate change, and technology and chain management. They release a joint statement addressing these named “the spirit of The QUAD”. 

The QUAD members decided to pool their resources: India’s production capability, Japan’s finance, Australia’s Logistics capability, and America’s technology.

 

Even though the QUAD summit nowhere mentions China directly we must notice that their statement saying “We commit to promoting a free, open rules-based order, rooted in international law to advance security and prosperity and counter threats to both Indo – Pacific and beyond” clearly points at China. 

Regarding this, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the summit should help “in hands mutual understanding and trust among regional countries, instead of targeting the interests of any third party”. There is no surprise that China sees QUAD as a hurdle in their expansionist policy.

Way Forward

The QUAD needs a clear vision to explain the Indo – Pacific vision to advance everyone’s economic and security interest. The challenges posed by the pandemic introduced an ideal setting for the QUAD countries to shoe their obligation to the more extensive plan that is on top of the dire prerequisites of the district.

Written by - Tanishaa Mehdiratta

Edited by - Akanksha Sharma