As Quad foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the US met in Delhi on Tuesday, the grouping remains caught between two competing descriptions that have long shaped perceptions of its future. Chinese officials once dismissed the Quad as mere “ocean foam”, a transient and incoherent arrangement that would quickly dissipate, but later warned against it evolving into an “Asian NATO,” a US-led security bloc aimed at containing China.
These contrasting phrases reflect the central ambiguity surrounding the Quad -- whether it is a loose consultative platform or an emerging strategic coalition in the Indo-Pacific. Trump's transactional diplomacy has made it all the more complex.
