The Quad, or
Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a coalition comprising the United States,
Japan, India and Australia, focussed on securing the Indo-Pacific region and
intent on resisting increasing Chinese influence, is meeting Tuesday, May 24.
US President Joe Biden is already in Japan where he met with Japanese premiere
Fumio Kishida and assured him of remaining committed to the country’s defence.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Japan on Monday. Australian’s
new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will be attending.

The Quad summit in
Japan is the second in-person conference of parties. Prior to 2021, when the
first in-person summit took place in the United States, all other Quad summits
were over video conference on account of the pandemic. The Quad was formed in
2017 when Indian PM Narendra Modi and then-US President Donald Trump decided to
revive the coalition, which had stopped existing in the 2010s. Thus, the
current arrangement is really Quad 2.0.   

On Tuesday, when
the Quad meets, discussions are bound to go into the Russia-Ukraine war, the
burgeoning crisis in Sri Lanka and, of course, China’s influence in the region.
China has often dubbed the coalition as Asia’s NATO, a naming that assumes much
greater significance amid Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine and Europe’s
rush to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

The American
perspective

For the US,
resisting Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific is central to keeping its
hegemonic place in the world. US President Joe Biden is set to launch the
Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a plan that seeks to set the way forward for
US’ engagement with Asia.

At the beginning
of his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Joe Biden said, “The
US-Japan alliance has long been the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the
Indo-Pacific, and the United States remains fully committed to Japan’s defence.”

Through
Indian eyes

Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi landed in Japan cheered by members of the Indian
diaspora. Prior to leaving for Tokyo, Modi, in a statement said, he will use
his visit to bolster economic relations with Japan.

“Economic
cooperation between India and Japan is an important aspect of our Special
Strategic and Global Partnership,” Modi said in a statement.  

Modi is also set
to meet Joe Biden and the newly-elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony
Albanese.

A new
Australia? May be, may be not

Anthony Albanese’s
presence at the Quad summit will perhaps be the most exciting. Albanese, a
member of the Australian Labor Party, battled accusations of proximity with
China in the run-up to the polls. Scott Morrison, who preceded Albanese, had
even called him a “Manchurian candidate,” a political slang referring to
someone being controlled by enemy powers.

While the new
Australian government has made no radical changes in the country’s foreign
policy, it will be interesting to see how Albanese, who the western media
reported would be a proxy for Beijing, deals in a coalition especially created
to counter Chinese influence.

What Japan
wants

For Japan, the China
problem has reached its borders. Mighty Beijing is breathing down its neck and
Fumio Kishida needs the Quad to work in order to feel secure. This is why Biden’s
meeting with Kishida was full of security assurances. Japan will attempt the
push the core Quad agenda, a “rules-based order” on the Indo-Pacific that protects
its territorial integrity.