Roving Periscope: Four Quad democracies to work for a free, open Indo-Pacific
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Despite China condemning the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) as a bloc with a ‘cold war mentality for confrontation’, the four democracies’ group, whose foreign ministers met in Melbourne on Friday, resolved to work for a free, open Indo-Pacific Region, in remarks seen as a message to Beijing.
It was the third in-person meeting of the four Quad foreign ministers. Earlier, they had met at the inauguration of Quad in New York (September 2019) and then in Tokyo (October 2020). They had last held talks virtually in February 2021.
In March 2021, US President Joe Biden had hosted the first-ever Summit of the Quad leaders in the virtual format. They followed it up by an in-person Summit in Washington in September 2021, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also attended.
The foreign ministers of the Quad—comprising India, the US, Australia, and Japan—vowed to work actively to achieve the group’s shared vision of a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific and collectively deal with ‘common threats like terrorism and the pandemic’.
Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Australia’s FM Marise Payne discussed in Melbourne the next course of action to take the Quad forward.
They reaffirmed their support to principles of openness, protection of national sovereignty, and observance of rules and fair play, Payne said at a joint press conference after the talks.
Dr. Jaishankar said their interactions proved that robust quadrilateral relation between these democracies, their strategic convergences, and shared democratic values combined to make the Quad a vibrant and substantial framework. “We are building an agenda which seeks to further our shared vision of a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific. We are keen to work together to further peace and stability and economic prosperity in the Indo-Pacific,” he added.
He said the meeting reviewed the Quad’s ongoing efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and agreed to expedite delivery of safe and affordable vaccines, support capacity building, and augment infrastructure for last-mile delivery.
Ahead of their talks, the four foreign ministers jointly called on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the media reported.
“A long and productive day in Melbourne. Just finished the 4th Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. Impressed by the progress we have made,” Dr. Jaishankar tweeted.
In his meeting with the Quad foreign ministers, Morrison talked about the importance of the grouping in current geopolitical developments.
“We live in a very fragile, fragmented and contested world, and that is no more accentuated than here in our Indo-Pacific, and the like-minded partners we see gathered together in this Quad, I always find so incredibly reassuring,” he said, adding he was reassured by the support Australia received from its partners, and that he did not mean it only in a security context.
“I mean that in terms of our economic partnership and cooperation. I mean that in our humanitarian partnership. I mean that in terms of how each one of us stands for a world order that favors freedom, and particularly here in a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said.
The Quad members are working together on many shared projects and their partnership is not only about the traditional regional security issues, he asserted.
“The things we discussed today are principally how we will continue to always stand up for our values, which is what unites us the most. Secondly, I think, in doing so, we stand up to those who would seek to coerce us,” he said, hinting at China’s reactions.
“And as I understand from our Quad partners, none of you know, understand better than we do, and that is a great comfort to us, that the coercion and the pressure that Australia has been placed under. We greatly appreciate your support,” he added.
On Thursday, Payne had said the fourth meeting of the Quad foreign ministers would focus on coronavirus vaccine distribution, countering terrorism, and cooperation in maritime security and climate change. He also highlighted the need to ensure that all Indo-Pacific nations can make their own strategic decisions, free from coercion, in remarks seen as a veiled reference to China’s increasing bullying in the region.
The Quad has been focusing on cooperation in areas such as producing vaccines, connectivity projects, facilitating the mobility of students, and promoting start-ups and technology collaboration. It announced a vaccine partnership in March 2021 with an aim to deliver one billion doses of vaccines to the Indo-Pacific region by the end of 2022.
As part of this cooperation, the production of pharmaceutical major Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen vaccines started at India’s Biological E facility in Hyderabad in October 2021 with the help of the US Development Financial Cooperation (DFC) through a credit line of USD 50 million to augment manufacturing capacity.
India is also open to supplying safe and affordable Made in India vaccines, such as COVOVAX and CORBEVAX, under the Quad vaccine partnership.
