The fact that US President Joe Biden judged there was no real choice but to prioritise domestic politics over attending the Quad summit in Sydney, which then led to the entire event being cancelled, highlights just one of the group’s limitations.
The Quad regularly attracts excited commentary to the effect that four of the world’s most powerful democracies are rising to the threat posed by an increasingly uncompromising China.
At the first ministerial-level meeting of the Quad in 2019, then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave this narrative a head of steam: “We’ve reconvened ‘the Quad’ – …This will prove very important in the efforts ahead, ensuring that China retains only its proper place in the world.”
