Quad Ministers set to meet in Australia
- External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will begin a visit to Australia on Thursday and attend a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Quad (India, Australia, United States, Japan)
- The meet will exchange views on regional strategic issues given their shared vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.
- The meet is expected to discuss cooperation on vaccines, technology and regional security issues including related to China.
Agenda for Meeting
- To review ongoing Quad cooperation and build on the positive and constructive agenda announced by the Leaders at the two Summits in 2021
- To address contemporary challenges such as the COVID pandemic, supply chains, critical technologies, climate change, infrastructure etc.
- The Quad Foreign Ministers meet is expected to lay the groundwork for the second Quad leaders summit likely to take place this summer.
About QUAD
- The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is an informal strategic forum that brings together the US, Japan, Australia, and India for summits, intelligence exchanges, and military drills.
- In 2007, the forum began as a dialogue.
- The diplomatic and military agreement was largely interpreted as a response to China's growing economic and military might.
- The guiding concepts are considered to be ensuring a rules-based global order, a liberal trading system, and freedom of navigation.
About First Leaders Summit of QUAD
- In September 2021, the four leaders, meeting in Washington for the first time.
- It laid out an ambitious agenda for the grouping, from cooperating on vaccines to regional infrastructure and critical technologies such as 5G.
- The four countries pledged to donate more than 1.2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses globally and produce at least 1 billion doses by the end of 2022.
- In March last year, the four countries also set up a new critical and emerging technologies group focusing on 5G, technical standards and technology supply chains.
- Also in the works is a joint initiative to “identify vulnerabilities” and “bolster supply-chain security” for semiconductors.
QUADs Evolution
- China is the most important driver of the Quad's evolution.
- The Quad's strategic glue is China's military aggressiveness against India and Japan, its attempts to corrupt Australian civil society, and its acceptance of open geopolitical rivalry with the US.
- The members of the Quad are currently being driven by China's actions in the region and its ""sudden turn toward excessive hostility.""
- The United States wants to formalise and expand this informal alliance.
Significance of QUAD
- All countries in the Indo-Pacific area, as well as the rest of the globe, benefit from a free, open, wealthy, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.
- Taking on common terrorist and proliferation issues.
- Maintaining the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific, including respect for international law, freedom of navigation, and overflight.
- Involving the United States and Japan in South Asian development initiatives will provide the required funds.