COMMENTARY China

Democracy’s Squad: India’s Change of Heart and the Future of the Quad

Sep 25, 2020 1 min read

COMMENTARY BY

Jeff M. Smith @Cold_Peace_

Director, Asian Studies Center

Jeff Smith is Director of The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center.

U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo hosts a Quad Meeting in New York City on September 26, 2019. State Department photo by Ron Przysucha/ Public Domain

Key Takeaways

In November 2017, an international grouping left for dead a decade earlier was brought back to life.

The group’s revival was a form of geopolitical signaling from the four democracies, a way to tell China: “We’re watching, and we’re alarmed.”

The goal is to win without fighting. The success of the Quad makes that more likely.

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In November 2017, an international grouping left for dead a decade earlier was brought back to life. Amid mounting concerns over China’s increasingly aggressive behavior, government representatives from Australia, India, Japan, and the United States gathered that month to discuss ways to enhance cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, marking the highly anticipated return of the “Quad.”

At its core, the Quad is a symbolic and substantive addition to an existing network of strategic and defense cooperation among four highly capable Indo-Pacific democracies that are increasingly aligned in their shared concerns on regional security. The group’s revival was a form of geopolitical signaling from the four democracies, a way to tell China: “We’re watching, and we’re alarmed.”

To read the full article, visit War on the Rocks.

This piece originally appeared in War on the Rocks on 8/13/20