New Delhi truly embraces Quad
A range of foreign policy issues was discussed, with Quad projecting a largely united front
For a country that was for long hesitant to give a more formal shape to its interactions with the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), India’s embrace of the grouping in recent years has been swift and growing. The leaders of the four nations — India, Australia, Japan, and the United States (US) — met twice last year and foreign ministers of the grouping gathered in Melbourne last week to prepare for the next leaders’ summit in Japan. India’s increased cooperation with Quad is understandable given external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s frequent remonstrations that the multilateral system isn’t working as it should.
A strong message on terrorism, especially crossborder terror, and the threat posed by ungoverned spaces in Afghanistan emanated from the foreign ministers’ meeting, along with condemnation of the Mumbai and Pathankot attacks and a call to eliminate terrorist safe havens and to disrupt terror networks and their financing. Given that shared concerns about China’s assertive actions across the region constitute some of the strongest glue holding together Quad, there were pledges to work for a free and open Indo-Pacific and to face challenges to the rules-based maritime order in the South and East China Seas. There was renewed focus on Quad’s Vaccine Partnership, which suffered slippages because of the devastating second wave of Covid-19 infections in India last year, with a promise to deliver the first lot of Quad-backed jabs in the first half of 2022. There were also indications of progress in Quad’s work to frame rules and standards for critical and emerging technologies — much of which have stayed under the radar but will be critical in areas such as 5G and rare earth minerals.
Quad was able to project a united front on Myanmar, despite India’s opposition to the use of sanctions, with calls for an end to violence and return to democracy. Quad members pushed back against China’s criticism, with Mr Jaishankar blaming China’s violation of agreements for the standoff on the Line of Actual Control. There was, however, no unanimity on the situation in Ukraine, though US secretary of state Antony Blinken pointedly said the principles threatened by Russia’s actions are crucial for stability in the Indo-Pacific. This too is understandable given that Quad is an informal grouping whose members work together on shared concerns though things may become more complicated if Russia decides to go ahead with military action against Ukraine.