PM Modi in US: What is the Quad grouping?

Here is all you need to know about why the Quad grouping comprising India, the US, Japan, and Australia came about, and what its objectives are.

What is Quad?

Following the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, India, Japan, Australia, and the US created an informal alliance to collaborate on disaster relief efforts. In 2007, then PM of Japan, Shinzo Abe, formalised the alliance, as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or the Quad.

But this nascent group was hampered by a lack of cohesion amongst members and accusations that the Quad was nothing more than an anti-China bloc. Thus, the early iteration of the Quad, largely based on maritime security, eventually dissipated. In 2017, faced again with the rising Chinese challenge, the four countries revived the Quad, and broadened its objectives.

Nonetheless, the Quad is not structured like a typical multilateral organisation, and lacks a secretariat and any permanent decision-making body (like the EU or UN). Instead, it has focused on expanding existing agreements between member countries and highlighting their shared values. Additionally, unlike NATO, the Quad does not include provisions for collective defence, instead choosing to conduct joint military exercises as a show of unity and diplomatic cohesion.

In 2020, the trilateral India-US-Japan Malabar naval exercises expanded to include Australia, marking the first official grouping of the Quad since its resurgence in 2017, and the first joint military exercises among the four countries in over a decade. In March 2021, the Quad leaders met virtually and later released a joint statement titled ‘The Spirit of the Quad,’ which outlined the group’s approach and objectives. The first in-person meeting was held in Washington DC, later that year.

What are the objectives of Quad?

The group’s primary objectives include maritime security, addressing the risks of climate change, creating an ecosystem for investment in the region, and boosting technological innovation. In 2020-21, the grouping also collaborated to combat the Covid-19 crisis, especially vis-à-vis vaccine diplomacy.

Quad members have also indicated a willingness to expand the partnership through a so-called Quad Plus that would include South Korea, New Zealand, and Vietnam, amongst others.

In a March 2021 opinion piece in The Washington Post, the leaders of all four member nations described the need for the alliance and its intentions for the future. They wrote:

“Since the tsunami, climate change has grown more perilous, new technologies have revolutionized our daily lives, geopolitics have become ever more complex, and a pandemic has devastated the world. Against this backdrop, we are recommitting to a shared vision for an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, resilient and inclusive. We are striving to ensure that the Indo-Pacific is accessible and dynamic, governed by international law and bedrock principles such as freedom of navigation and peaceful resolution of disputes, and that all countries are able to make their own political choices, free from coercion.”

Despite its ostensible commitment to a broad range of issues, the Quad’s raison d’etre is still considered to be the threat China poses. The Quad’s member states have all got their own reasons to be wary of the rise of China, and curbing Beijing’s regional advances.

China, on its part, has consistently opposed the Quad’s existence. In 2018, the Chinese Foreign Minister referred to the Quad as a “headline-grabbing idea”, and Beijing has openly accused the grouping of inciting discord among countries in Asia. Beijing sees Quad’s existence as a part of a larger strategy to encircle China.

This is an updated version of an explainer published in 2021.