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QUAD or No QUAD? That is the Question

QUAD is an informal strategic dialogue between four democracies namely India, the United States, Japan and Australia. The objective of this group is to secure the Indo-pacific region from Chinese expansion policy.

 

Origin of QUAD: 2004-2007

In order to understand the importance of the QUAD let’s see its origin first. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was the first major disaster of the 21st century in which thousands of people died, lakhs of people were displaced from their hometown, billions of dollar worth property damaged. That time the disaster relief and rescue operation in the Indian Ocean was led by the Indian navy. Within a few weeks the humanitarian and disaster relief effort was coordinated with three other major powers namely the United States, japan and Australia.

In continuation to that in 2007 the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe talked about the idea of confluence of two seas and the need for larger strategic coordination between the democratic parties India, Japan, Australia and USA in the naval sphere. The 2007 Joint Naval Malabar Exercise witnessed the participation of all the four navies along with the Navy of Singapore.

China reacted strongly against the formation of proposed grouping terming it as ASIAN NATO aimed at containing China and Australia and Singapore discontinued their participation. With this the idea of QUAD 1.0 went into cold storage and was revived only a decade later.

 


Revival of QUAD 2.0: Reasons (2007-2017)

The decade (2007-2017) saw strengthening Indo-US relationships in the strategic-military terms with signing of GSOMIA, LEMOA, COMCASA and BECA. The USA has time and again supported India’s entry into NSG while china blocked it.

China’s assertion

The Nine dashed line claims of China in the South China Sea raising serious border threats for countries like Philippines, Vietnam, etc. China also constructed artificial islands in the South China Sea for its strategic naval base. The case went to the International Court of Justice but China ignored the verdict of the Hague tribunal in 2016 over the Scarborough Shoal.

Japan has some disputes with China over the Senkaku Islands in East China Sea.

Japan started regular participation since the 2015 Malabar Exercise along with the US and India. USA coined the term Indo-Pacific, and remained its Pacific naval command as Indo-Pacific command, terming it as a strategic move.

The 2017 Doklam standoff between India and China in the tri-junction region of India China and Bhutan and the 2020 Ladakh Standoff.

And more recently it is the COVID-19 Pandemic that bring the entire world to a standstill has also originated from China

As a result Australia has been invited for joint naval exercises with India-USA-Japan.

Japan has launched the strategic resilience initiative to diversity its manufacturing bases away from China.

Australia also called for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

 

Future of QUAD

There is only one effective strategic choice for India to protect its interest and safeguard its border security that is a closer alignment with the US. Its future depends upon the extent and scope of cooperation between partner states. It also depends to an extent on the USA’s willingness to confront China.

 

Advantage for India

With the coming of the QUAD there will be an increase check on Chinese growing influence in Indian Ocean region. India can answer to Chinese invasion across land border.

Provide infrastructure assistance to climatically vulnerable states during cyclones. Taking collective action for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief would be easier as the members of the grouping has strong navies.

Monitoring shipping vessels for search and rescue and anti-piracy operations.

 

 

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