Quad adds muscle in Melbourne, augurs well for Tokyo summit

The Quad meeting of foreign ministers this month has laid a firm foundation for the Tokyo summit of US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australian Prime Minister in May-June with all parties coming on the same page in Melbourne.

Unlike the past two meetings of Quad ministers in New York (2020) and Tokyo (2021), the Melbourne conference was political, sincere and focused on how to take the grouping forward with shared vision being the guiding light.

According to top diplomats based in Australia and US, the Quad has taken off as a positive grouping with foreign ministers holding focused discussions with each country bringing its expertise to share on the conference table. “The Quad has actually taken off at Melbourne with all the four countries agreeing to work together on a shared agenda and vision for the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” said a senior diplomat.

While on the eve of the meeting China described Quad as a confrontational bloc or a security alliance against Beijing, the foreign ministers paid little heed to the description as all the four countries have independently excellent bilateral ties with each other. It is understood that the fundamental underpinnings of Quad were clearly defined at Melbourne with each partner upfront and upbeat about the grouping.

Apart from its commitment to keep the Indo-Pacific open and free, the Quad has swiftly moved into vaccine support, emerging and critical technologies, counterterrorism, resilient and trusted supply chains, and a stable Afghanistan. The Quad powers have decided to work with countries like UAE to counter religious radicalization in order to promote global peace.

The Quad ministers also discussed the centrality of ASEAN countries particularly Indonesia and the Philippines towards its shared vision on Indo-Pacific but without any addition into the grouping. Both Chinese belligerence towards the Republic of Taiwan, Japan (in the context of Senkaku Islands dispute) and the PLA’s military posture towards India in East Ladakh was discussed in Melbourne. This was later amplified by Washington. It was quite evident from the meeting, that none of the democratic Quad powers would politically dilute their postures towards China, including Australia which faces a close contested general election in May 2022.