Stating that the Quad grouping is here to stay, grow and to contribute, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Saturday that it stands as a statement that in this day and age, “others cannot have a veto on our choices.” He said the grouping — comprising India, Australia, Japan, and the United States — is facilitated by the emergence of the Indo-Pacific region, and is propelled by a change in the global order that requires more, not less, collaboration among like-minded countries.
“The post-1945 division of what till then was perceived to be a cohesive theatre resulted in a contemplating of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific as two separate entities. This separation was an outcome of American strategic priorities in 1945. Ironically, it is America’s repositioning today that is helping to rectify it,” Mr. Jaishankar said, addressing the inaugural Quad Think Tank Forum which coincided with the Raisina Dialogue which concluded on Friday. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell addressed the forum virtually.
Impact of Ladakh standoff
Tracing the origin of the Quad grouping after the 2005 tsunami, and its revival in 2017, Mr. Jaishankar focussed on what the grouping stands for. “I believe it has five messages. One, it reflects the growth of a multi-polar order. Two, it is post-alliance and post-Cold War thinking. Three, it is against spheres of influence. Four, it expresses the democratising of the global space and a collaborative, not unilateral, approach. Five, it is a statement that in this day and age, others cannot have a veto on our choices.”
“In 2021, we, all four of us, upgraded it [the Quad] to the Summit level and it has flourished since,” he said. The 2020 standoff with China in eastern Ladakh has also significantly changed India’s relations with Beijing and forged a closer alignment with Washington. It was after the standoff that India agrees to Australia’s inclusion in the Malabar naval exercise as a full member, bringing all four countries together.
On the rapid growth of the grouping in the last few years, the Minister said that all four governments have behaved differently from how they normally do. “The Quad is an overhead-light, creative, flexible, nimble, responsive, and open-minded enterprise. These are not adjectives we normally associate with the bureaucracy.”
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Major collaborations
Speaking of the progress in India’s relations with the three partner nations, Mr. Jaishankar said that with the U.S., “we put behind ideological hesitations of history. With Japan, we gave a long-standing good will much more practical shape.” With Australia, India actually made a “real beginning in seriousness”, he said.
On the achievements and activities of the Quad, the Minister said that the focus was naturally on addressing the region’s most pressing needs and challenges, which are maritime security, infrastructure and connectivity, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), critical technologies, communications, space cooperation, cyber security, counterterrorism, fellowships, and climate action among others.
He identified the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IP-MDA) initiative and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) as major collaborations that serve the global good. Under the IP-MDA, data is “being supplied for countering illicit maritime activities and responding to climate-related and humanitarian events,” he said. The IPEF seeks to offer alternative economic engagement mechanisms and is making steady progress in addressing issues such as supply chains, clean economies, sustainability, and digital economies, amongst others. India and 13 other countries are negotiating the text of agreements under IPEF, Mr. Jaishankar said.
Ms. Wong said that the Australia-India relationship has become more consequential at a time when strategic competition, climate change, and economic disruption are reshaping the region. Practical cooperation within the Quad provides an opportunity to contribute to the region’s resilience, and the four countries have a vision of an Indo-Pacific free from intimidation and coercion, where disputes are settled in line with international law, she added.
