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Quad Strategic Focus Areas
The shift in primary focus areas for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
Primary Sources
Quad foreign ministers' meet takes place in Delhi after Trump-Xi ... - WION
Story highlightsIndia is hosting the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Delhi just days after the Trump-Xi summit. Quad members might be having concerns around US-China rapprochement. Iran war and Hormuz disruptions have affected most of them. How will Indo-Pacific security focus of Quad play out?India is hosting the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Tuesday (May 26) in New Delhi. Chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the meeting - first in India since 2023- will be attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. One of the Quad's key focuses has been the Indo-Pacific, where China was seen as a key player and focus of deliberations of the group formally called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. But this year, the meeting is happening against two backdrops that affect all Quad members in some manner: the Iran war and the US-China rapprochement. The meeting takes place days after the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. This might possibly change the strategic context of the Quad meeting, according to several analyses.Trump downplayed frictions with China. How will Quad view this?One aspect being reported is that Rubio, who arrived in New Delhi after accompanying Trump to Beijing, would seek to reassure India, Japan and Australia that the US continues to be committed to the Indo-Pacific despite Trump's clear push to downplay security friction with China. The Trump-Xi summit, in reality, did not yield much despite the talk of the emergence of a "G2" — China and the US. This so-far imagined alignment is a situation where China and the US would partition spheres of influence and sideline India, but no major development happened at the summit to point in that direction. This means the status quo in the region is more or less intact, as the summit was mostly transactional, with some trade deals signed or promised.Add WION as a Preferred SourceQuad is not dead, but…India's concerns about a possible US-China rapprochement have subsided as the undercurrents of US-China competition across various sectors remain intact. Observers from think tanks like the Eurasia Review provided the 'Quad is not dead' argument. However, they noted that the grouping has lost some of its initial political bite. The formulations about a "free and open Indo-Pacific" — emphasising freedom of navigation and undisrupted trade flows — might remain unc...
Stalled Quad Leaders' Summit pushed to the forefront as ministers head ...
The conflicts in West Asia, the situation in the Indo-Pacific region and the holding of a much-delayed Quad Summit are expected to top the agenda for a meeting of the foreign ministers of the four-nation grouping to be held in New Delhi on May 26.The foreign ministers of Australia, Japan and the US are expected to hold bilateral meetings with Jaishankar and also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ministry said. (ANI/ Representative photo)External affairs minister S. Jaishankar will host his counterparts — Penny Wong of Australia, Toshimitsu Motegi of Japan and Marco Rubio of the US — at Hyderabad House for the meeting. Rubio is set to arrive in India over the weekend for a bilateral visit — his first to India since becoming secretary of state last year — and India set up the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting to coincide with his trip.The external affairs ministry said the foreign ministers will build on their discussions held in Washington in July 2025 in line with the Quad’s vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.“They will exchange views on advancing Quad cooperation across priority areas, review progress on ongoing Quad initiatives, and reflect on recent developments in the Indo-Pacific region and other international issues of mutual concern,” the ministry said in a statement.The foreign ministers of Australia, Japan and the US are expected to hold bilateral meetings with Jaishankar and also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ministry said.The Quad emerged as a key grouping focused on security and stability in the Indo-Pacific during US President Donald Trump’s first term, when it was elevated to the level of top leadership. However, there has been a lack of focus on the Quad during Trump’s second term, despite Rubio chairing a Quad foreign ministers’ meeting soon after he assumed office early in 2025.Plans for India to host the Quad Leaders’ Summit have been hit by several setbacks, and the upcoming meeting is expected to discuss the holding of the summit, people familiar with the matter said. India continues to be the chair of the grouping, though the position should have gone to Australia in 2026. There is still no official word on when the summit will be held.The people said the upcoming meeting is not expected to lead to any major deliverables. The conflicts in West Asia and Ukraine and China’s actions in the Indo-Pacific are expected to figure in the meeting, which will also be an opportunity for the US side to brief the other members on Tr...
No, the Quad isn't dead. This week's foreign ministers' meeting proves ...
The Quad is not dead. Some are declaring its demise, but tomorrow’s meeting of the foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the United States in New Delhi will be uplifting proof of life amid the world’s state of crisis.As China gathers strength, the Quad is indeed becoming ever more valuable, including to the US.Doubts about the group’s survival have grown because the Quad’s national leaders haven’t met since 2024. Politico cites analysts pointing to President Donald Trump’s lack of interest in the grouping. Writing in Foreign Policy, Sarang Shidore of the Quincy Institute feels ‘a perceptible sense that the Quad is fading away’. The Times of India says the Quad ‘is quietly losing steam.’Last year’s planned meeting of Quad leaders was reportedly cancelled due to tension between Washington and Delhi. But even the lack of a leaders’ meeting for a second year should cause no alarm.Daily Quad work directed and checked by annual leader meetings would be ideal, but for the time being the foreign ministers meeting is what’s needed. Continuity of contact and action is necessary at all levels in the Quad, and foreign ministers are the ones who drive it forward.People are talking about the Quad’s demise only because its meetings did reach leader level in 2021. But the Five Eyes intelligence grouping doesn’t meet at leader level, and no one doubts its vital importance. And while leaders established the AUKUS security partnership, to succeed it must be an ingrained part of the three nations’ defence systems.Significantly, the focus of all these groups is the challenge from China. This was the reason for the Quad’s reestablishment in 2017 and its elevation to the level of foreign ministers’ meetings in 2019. Back then, there wasn’t even a joint statement, yet this didn’t make the group insignificant. Public-facing work, such as leaders’ meetings, is necessary, but even without it the Quad provides a vital mechanism for its members’ foreign policy and security communities to collectively counter China’s behaviour.Other international issues sometimes appear and draw members’ attention away from the Quad. Bilateral tensions within the Quad appear, too, as they did last year. But these are temporary, whereas the animating force behind the Quad, the challenge from China, is as permanent as anything gets in international relations.The Quad should be seen as a permanent institution for Indo-Pacific stability and tomorrow’s meeting should answer, again, any questions ...
QUAD is now more about economics than military- The Week
With the foreign ministers of the QUAD countries meeting in New Delhi on May 26, it is becoming more apparent that the grouping is getting to be more about economics than a military one. On Tuesday, the meeting will be held between Indian foreign minister Dr S Jaishankar and his counterparts, US Secretary of State Maroc Rubio, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong and Japan’s foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Global geopolitical developments like the US being caught in a disadvantageous position on the Iran war front have forced the grouping that began with a distinct anti-China character to one that is shedding its military dimension and is focused more on trade and other cooperation aspects. The thawing of ice-cold India-China relations and recent US overtures towards Beijing have played a major role in this changing approach. The QUAD—short for Quadrilateral Security Dialogue—began with a stated commitment to a “free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific” as well as a “rules-based international order”—euphemisms that China thinks are directed against it. Established in 2007 and again being revived in 2017 after a period of dormancy, QUAD comprises India, the US, Australia and Japan. Truth be told, QUAD’s military aspect was never overtly stated. Instead, its stated focus was on expanding maritime law enforcement cooperation to support efforts to curtail illicit maritime activity, including piracy, drug trafficking, infringements on border security, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, besides humanitarian and disaster mitigation efforts. But China was never entirely convinced. At one time, it even labelled the QUAD a “mini-NATO”. QUAD suffered from a structural defect. Its fortunes swung depending on the extent to which it was favoured or disfavoured by the US President. It also depended on the POTUS to what extent the military agenda was to be espoused. In his first term, US President Donald Trump began on a bellicose note on QUAD and then struck a conciliatory tone in his second term. While the US had roped in India to checkmate the Chinese in their own backyard, the growing military asymmetry between China and the other countries, including India, may have forced the US to rethink the QUAD positioning. The very fact that President Donald Trump visited Beijing for a summit-level meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on May 13-15, hoping for a proactive Chinese role to convince Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz, would have accord...
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