CUTS Washington Monthly Brief
#36, March 2021
Buttressing the Spirit of the Quad in the Indo-Pacific
 
Leaders of the Quadrilateral Framework (Quad) - Joe Biden, President of the United States; Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India; Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia; and Yoshihide Suga, Prime Minister of Japan met virtually on March 12, 2021 at the first-ever Quad leaders’ summit.
 
Looking back, at his historic ‘Confluence of the Two Seas’ speech at the Indian Parliament in 2007, the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had envisioned a “dynamic coupling of the Pacific and the Indian Oceans as seas of freedom and of prosperity”. Although it took substantial time to build this consensus, the revived Quad has been shaping it actively at the working and ministerial levels since 2017.
 
Other than freedom of navigation and over flight, inclusions of areas such as Covid-19, climate change, emerging technologies at the summit are emerging drivers of a unity of vision and purpose. The joint statement “The Spirit of the Quad” exhibits that.
 
Such diversification of subjects will help the grouping in not just acting as a counterweight to hegemonic belligerence in the region, but also in becoming a strong financial and economic bloc. With a plethora of rising challenges being faced at the national and regional level, it is imperative for the Quad to adapt, in providing mutually cooperative solutions for the security and development of the Indo-Pacific region.
 
The proposed steps such as funding production technologies and development projects to reduce dependence on China-produced rare earth and dramatically increase the supply of COVID-19 vaccines by one billion doses in 2022 to meet the shortages in Southeast Asia evince that.
 
Similarly, the grouping proved to be more resilient than the prediction of critics - surviving under the leadership of the Trump administration, the departure of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and a sharp increase in tensions that Australia and India have faced with China.
 
With that resolve and resilience, perhaps the 2021 Quad summit can prove to be a turning point in realising what Prime Minister Abe had envisioned in the year 2007.
                                        
Pradeep S. Mehta
Editor

PS: What would the potential consequences to peace and security be, in case American troops do not withdraw from Afghanistan within the mentioned time frame?


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The Complexities Of China’s CPTPP Entry
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U.S. becomes India's second biggest oil supplier, Saudi plunges to No. 4
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India Has Ambitious Plan For Developing More Renewable Energy, But Needs To Aim Higher
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India and South Korea agree to go for joint production, export of military hardware
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Bill introduced in U.S. Congress to scrap 'one-China' policy
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