The Foreign Ministers of the United States, India, Australia and Japan met yesterday in Tokyo as part of the Quad Agreement (Quad) to strengthen this alliance, which was created to counter the expansion of China’s influence in Asia. Pacific region.
The alliance has seen its ups and downs in recent years, but it has gained new momentum following the 2020 border skirmishes between India and China and the escalation of diplomatic and trade standoffs between Australia and Beijing.
Member states say the alliance is not an “Asian NATO” and see it as a group that can offer other countries in the region an alternative to China in areas such as combating COVID-19, disaster relief and information security.
The four countries met for the first time to combine relief operations after the January 26, 2004 Indonesian earthquake triggered a tsunami along the east coast of India that killed an estimated 230,000 people.
Three years later, four countries formed the Quadripartite Security Dialogue. The driving force behind these efforts was then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The primary mission of the quadripartite alliance was to conduct joint naval exercises as part of the ongoing bilateral exercise Malabar between the United States and India.
But the following year, then-Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd withdrew from the alliance, not wanting his country to be part of a group seen as challenging China, which has become an important economic partner for Australia.
These countries took part in the Malabar 2020 exercise, reinforcing the group’s image as a military alliance. China responded that the alliance was a Cold War-style group that sought to contain China.
Foreign Minister Wang Li compared the alliance to “sea foam” that raises waves but quickly dissipates.
While the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump made some efforts to keep the four-way alliance alive, Joe Biden went even further and held the first summit of leaders of this alliance virtually in March 2021, just weeks after taking office.
In September 2021, the four met in Washington, which led to the strengthening of the alliance, but without the announcement of a formal coalition.
It was an example of Washington’s new strategy of building coalitions with states and institutions around specific common goals rather than traditional military alliances.
However, India, referring to “neutrality”, continues to provide material support to Russia against the backdrop of its invasion of Ukraine, creating a new source of friction.
