What is QUAD and what are the objective??

Last Updated on March 12, 2025 by srikanta

Here is a question that a lot of people are looking for an answer to. What is the Quad or the Quadrilateral Dialogue???

Quad is dominating the headlines all the year.

But what is Quad all about?What are its objectives and why is India a part of this group? Well if you want the answer read this post below and we will try to answer it in simplest term.

WHAT IS QUAD?

As the name suggests it has four members which are India, Japan, The United States and Australia. It is also known as Quadrilateral Security Dialogue which is a strategic dialogue between these member countries. To know about it in details; you must have to know something.

First of all below listed are the countries present in the indo-pacific maritime space which stretches from the indian ocean to the west pacific ocean.
{Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, The maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Papua new guinea, The Philippines, Singapore, Sri lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-leste, The United States and Vietnam.}

Do you know what’s the one thing that most of these countries have in common?

These countries have trade disputes with China and they also have territorial disputes with china.

China have jeopardized the security in the indo-pacific. It has refused to respect internationally accepted maritime laws. They are challenging the rules, claimed some islands as their own, built artificial islands etc. Basically china has become a threat to peace in the indo-pacific and this is where the Quad comes in. Its prime objective now is to contain China.

HOW THE QUAD STARTED?

Initially Quad began as an Ad-hoc grouping in the year 2004 after the Indian ocean tsunami. 227,898 death was registered across 14 countries. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. India, The united states, Japan and Australia came together to form ”The Tsunami Core Group”. These four countries contributed over 40000 troops, humanitarian responders, cargo ships and transport planes. They worked successfully toward tsunami relief and reconstruction. The group did not issue any communique or create a secretariat. When its purpose was solved the group was dissolved.

In 2006 inspired by the success of the Quadrilateral template, the president of Japan Shinzo Abe proposed an ‘Arc of Freedom and Prosperity’ group meant to promote freedom and the rule of law. Soon then Indian prime minister Manmohan singh visited Tokyo and India-Japan issued a joint statement. The two countries expressed their eagerness to begin a dialogue with like-minded countries in the pacific region in 2007. U.S.A vice president Dick Cheney also showed interest in a quad dialogue in April 2007. In september 2007 Japan and Australia joined the U.S – India Malabar exercise.

China became uncomfortable due to all these happenings. It began voicing concerns about the Quad. It was being called an ‘Asian Nato’ protests and hesitations followed. Soon the Quad crumbled.

QUAD 2.0

Below were the situations which set the stage for the Quad to return.

• India and the US had signed the lemur.
• India and Japan had signed the civil nuclear co-operation agreement.
• Japan had permanently joined the malabar exercises.
• XI Jinping was in power and under him China was more aggressive than ever.
  • It had engaged india in the Doklam Standoff.
  • China ticked off Japan by increasing coast guard activity near the Senkaku island.
  • It also bribed several Australian politicians and was caught.

So in 2017 when Shinzo Abe returned to power and he wasted no time in calling for a democratic security diamond or Quad 2.0.

Representatives from four countries met in Manila in november 2017. This time there was little hesitation in standing up to China. Foreign ministers of the Quad met thrice between 2019 and 2021. Then came the march 12th summit, which was a landmark summit. The leaders of India, The United states, Japan and Australia met virtually. Topics like Development, Wuhan virus vaccination, Co-operation in the indo-pacific, Climate change etc were discussed.

They even released a joint statement called as “The Spirit of Quad.” Here’s something interesting:- The document didn’t mentioned china for once but it carefully outlines the group’s plans of containing China. Click here to read the document as released by Indian govt.

Every word points at china without mentioning it. The joint statement goes on to say that they are committed to leverage their partnership to help the world’s most dynamic region, respond to historic crisis so that it may be the free, open, accessible, diverse and thriving indo-pacific as everyone want.

KNOW ABOUT SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANISATION

IS IT EFFECTIVE ENOUGH??

Well here are some data before answering this.

• China’s military personnel number is 3.36 million where as the quad has 7.78 million.

But things don’t always depends upon war or military fight. Trade and commerce are also very much effective and Quad knows this very well.

• Three out of four quad countries have already banned chinese telecom company Huawei from the 5g race which was supposed to be China’s 1st weapon to dictate tech industry.
• India has already banned more than 220 chinese apps. The ban on ‘Tik-Tok’ and ‘PUBG’ alone is expected to cost china 15 billion dollars.
• China wants to buy global support through vaccine diplomacy but the Quad is against that.
  • Quad promised to deliver 1 billion doses to the indo-pacific by 2022.
  • They’re pulling in America’s technology, Japanese finance, India’s production capacity and Australia’s logistics capability to make it possible.
• It is also focusing on new age technology; the sector which China loves the most.

These are small steps that can have a big cumulative impact on China’s trade market.

We hope that; now you have got a brief idea about what the Quad is and what are the strategies it is following to achieve it’s goal.

READ ABOUT AMERICA’S HISTORY

WHAT’S IN IT FOR INDIA??

• India can secure a permanent seat at the united nations security council (UNSC).
• It can upgrade its defense manufacturing technology.
• It can become a major blue economy.
• Also it can seek economic cooperation.

But India needs to maintain a balance. It must keep in mind that its engagement in the quad shouldn’t jeopardize its standing in the BRICS or The SCO where China is also a member.

CHALLENGES FOR QUAD

There are some challenges for Quad like; It cann’t reduce itself to being an anti-China grouping and also get China to behave itself without fighting it militarily.

According to you what other things should Quad adopt to achieve success? Please comment below and like our Fb page to stay updated.