QUAD Grouping

In News

• Recently, the External Affairs Minister said that the Quad comprising the U.S., India, Japan and Australia—is the most prominent plurilateral platform.

More about the news

• The minister was delivering a lecture on ‘India’s Vision of the Indo-Pacific’. 
• Viewpoints of External Affairs minister about QUAD:
  • Indo-Pacific:
    • India envisages a free, open, inclusive and peaceful Indo-Pacific built on a rules-based order and sustainable and transparent infrastructure investment.
    • He said the prospects for the global order depend on a more equitable and democratic distribution of power and resources.
  • ASEAN:
    • India also envisages the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to be at the centre of the Indo-Pacific, both literally and substantively.
  • India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway: 
    • It has the potential of creating a completely new axis of economic activity in Asia. 
  • China’s objection:
    • According to him, any reservations to the activities of the four-nation bloc (QUAD) is possibly a “unilateralist opposition to collective and cooperative endeavours”.
    • He also said the India-China relationship is going through an “extremely difficult phase”.

Significance

• China factor:
  • China has formally intimated its displeasure over the QUAD meetings.
  • The narrative of the Quad as an anti-China tool (with a range of epithets, from “sea foam” to “Asian NATO”) promoted by China along with its belligerent tactics in the neighbourhood .
  • Japan and India are closest to China, and both face belligerent Chinese claims to territory
• Not an alliance but a grouping:
  • The U.S. says Quad is not an alliance but a grouping of countries driven by shared interests and values and interested in strengthening a rules-based order in the strategically-important Indo-Pacific region.

Importance of QUAD for India

• Countering Chinese Influence: 
  • Recent stand-offs on the Indo-China Border and the reluctance of Russia to step in and build pressure is forcing India to look for alternatives.
• Post-COVID Diplomacy: 
  • The disruption across the world and non-transparent systems of China pose an opportunity for India to take lead and become the World’s Manufacturing Hub.
  • India can leverage its expertise in the vaccine and pharma industry to increase its soft power.
  • Further, Japan and the US want to shift their manufacturing companies out of China in order to curb its imperialistic behavior.
• India’s SAGAR initiative:
  • India under the SAGAR initiative wants to become a net security provider in the Indian Ocean.
  • QUAD cooperation may give India access to multiple strategic locations for creating Naval bases.
• Multipolar World: 
  • India has supported a rule-based multipolar world and QUAD can help it in achieving its ambition of becoming a regional superpower.
• Climate Change:
  • The climate crisis calls for urgency in action. 
  • Quad nations are already driving their efforts toward climate ambition, including working on the 2030 targets for national emissions and renewable energy, clean-energy innovation, and deployment. 
  • The most commendable commitment is their focus on increasing the Indo-Pacific region’s resilience to climate change by improving critical climate information-sharing and disaster-resilient infrastructure.

Source: TH