The United States (US), in a bid to contain China, is aiming to “formalise” growing strategic ties with India, Japan, and Australia in a forum known as “the Quad”. On the sidelines of the annual US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, the deputy secretary of the US State Department, Stephen Beigun, said, “It is a reality that the Indo-Pacific region is actually lacking in strong multilateral structures. They don’t have anything of the fortitude of NATO, or the European Union,” and added, “There is certainly an invitation there at some point to formalize a structure like this.”
Officially known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the grouping is an informal strategic forum of the four democracies, and holds semiregular summits and joint military drills and discusses regional economic and development assistance. The idea of the Quad is often credited to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose August 2007 speech titled “Confluence of the Two Seas” provided the foundations for the grouping.
Following Beigun’s comments, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for an expansion of membership of the Quad to include South Korea and other long-term US allies. In an interview with Fox Business News, Pompeo said, “I think you are seeing the entire world begin to unite around the central understanding that the Chinese Communist Party simply is going to refuse to compete in a fair, reciprocal, transparent way.” He further added, “So whether it’s our friends in India, our friends in Australia, friends in Japan or South Korea, I think they have all come to see the risk to their own people, to their own countries, and you’ll see them partner with the United States to push back on every front that we’ve talked about this evening.”
After a two-year hiatus, the Quad regained momentum in 2019, when the four members held a minister-level meeting, signalling that the states were seeking to revive the grouping. In last year’s meeting, a US official said there was a need to “institutionalise this gathering of like-minded Indo-Pacific partners”, a point which was reiterated by Beigun this week.
Tensions have steadily grown between Washington and Beijing in the domain of trade since 2018 and even witnessed renewed flashpoints in the South China Sea. The US-China trade war has impacted the world and even resulted in certain countries such as Japan, South Korea, and India initiating decoupling from China by diversifying their respective supply chains. The Quad appears to be another push towards rallying the shared interests of these countries against Beijing.
China, for its part, has begun implementing policies to improve its trade relations with other regions, specifically the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). For instance, Beijing reduced its tariffs for imported products from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos under the Preferential Trade Program. The new policy would permit up to 97% of all products from these countries to be imported into China duty-free. This approach provides smaller economies within ASEAN access to the Chinese market.
Furthermore, in an interview with Xinhua, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated, “Some American politicians who are biased against and hostile to China are using their power to smear China with fabrications and impede normal ties with China under various pretexts.” He further explained that such attempts would harm the interests of both nations and stressed that “anyone who tries to start a so-called “new Cold War” in the 21st century will be on the wrong side of history”.
Nevertheless, despite China’s opposition to the Quad, the grouping appears to be making headway. In July, there was speculation that India planned to invite Australia to the Malabar naval exercise to be held later this year. The trilateral maritime drill is conducted between India, Japan, and the US. Currently, the decision to include Australia, according to an Indian official, has been delayed due to the ongoing stand-off with China on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Another reason for the delay is likely due to the COVID-19 situation. The addition of Australia, if it materialises, will bring all the Quad countries together as part of the annual war games and signal a major shift in India’s Indo-Pacific plans.
Furthering the agenda of the Quad, Pompeo stressed, “The purpose here can be to create a critical mass around the shared values and interests of those parties in a manner that attracts more countries in the Indo-Pacific and even from around the world,” and added “the previous administration had refused to confront this challenge. And you’ve seen us do it in places --we’ve done it with respect to telecommunications, Huawei.”
That being said, despite the US pushing for the formalisation of the Quad, many analysts remain sceptical. Tetsuo Kotani, a professor at Meikai University, said “The Quad would continue to be a loose framework, with regular high-level dialogues and possible naval exercises, due to the varying interests of the members,” and described the grouping as thinking quadrilaterally while acting trilaterally. This is because Australia, and particularly India, have had a history of misgivings about formalising the group— especially in the security realm. However, the recent India-China border stand-off and Australia’s growing mistrust of China could move the Quad forward.
US Seeks to “Formalise” Quad to Counter China
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called for the Quad to be expanded to include South Korea.
September 2, 2020
SOURCE: THE DIPLOMAT