It will be the fourth in-person Quad Summit since 2021
The White House has announced that the fourth in-person Quad Summit will be held in Delaware, USA, the home state of President Joe Biden, on September 21, 2024.

This has come as a huge morale booster to the supporters of this initiative, and also as a dampener to all doubters who were claiming that the Quad did not have much of a future because of lack of interest amongst its members to take it forward.

The naysayers based their assessment on the fact that no Summit of the Quad had taken place for more than a year since the last one in Hiroshima, Japan in May, 2023, and none was expected under India’s Chairmanship during the rest of 2024.

It had become increasingly clear over the last several months that in view of the forthcoming US Presidential elections in November, 2024, President Biden would not be in a position to travel to India for the proposed Summit.

The Summit in India with Biden’s participation was ruled out completely when Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race on 21st July, 2024.

It is to the credit of the Quad leadership that an innovative solution was found by proposing to host the 2024 Summit in the US and pushing the Summit in India to next year in 2025.

Absence of a Summit in 2024 would have sent out an unfortunate message that the Quad members lack the commitment to advance it.

By their decision to host the Summit in the US, the member countries clearly demonstrated that they are determined to take their cooperation forward.

The forthcoming summit
As in the past meetings, the current situation in the Indo-Pacific region is expected to loom large over deliberations at the Summit.

Although no country’s name figured explicitly in any of the Joint Declarations that were issued by the earlier Summits, most significant decisions pointed a finger at China’s approach in the Indo-Pacific region.

In the Joint Statement issued after the meeting amongst the Quad foreign ministers in Tokyo on July29, 2024, the ministers reaffirmed their “steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is inclusive and resilient, and…to upholding the free and open rules-based international order, with its strong support for the principle of freedom, human rights, rule of law, democratic values, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and peaceful settlement of disputes and prohibition on the threat or use of force in accordance with the UN Charter.”

With tension prevailing in the South and East China Seas, the Statement reiterated the “strong opposition to any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion.” The ministers expressed “serious concern about the militarization of disputed features, and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea…”

They emphasized the importance of maintaining and upholding freedom of navigation and overflight, other lawful uses of sea, and unimpeded commerce consistent with international law’’ and reiterated that the award by the Arbitral Tribunal in July, 2016, was “a significant milestone, and the basis for peacefully resolving disputes between the parties.”

The above explicit references send out a clear signal that the Quad countries are getting bolder in pushing back against any aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.
  
The spectrum of interest of Quad countries has gone beyond the maritime domain to include cyber and space domains.

Over the last 4 years, several initiatives have been identified for taking forward cooperation in these spheres as well as others like critical and emergent technologies, healthcare, education and skill development, infrastructure, connectivity, terrorism including “concerted action against all UN-listed terrorist groups including Al-Qaida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and their proxy groups,” climate change, commitment to protecting the information environment by supporting media freedom as well as addressing foreign information manipulation and interference, including disinformation; support for ASEAN’s unity and centrality.

Evolution of Quad
The Quad has made significant progress since it was revived on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Manila, the Philippines in November, 2017, exactly a decade after the “Confluence of the Two Seas” Speech delivered by the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to the Indian Parliament in August, 2007.

The Quad meetings took place at Senior Official level till September, 2019, when the first meeting at foreign minister level was held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, 2019, followed by another meeting in Tokyo on 6th October, 2020.

A significant impetus was provided when President Biden assumed office in January, 2021 with a virtual Summit in April, 2021, followed by the first in-person Summit in Washington DC in September, 2021.

These were followed by subsequent Summits in Tokyo, Japan in May, 2022 and Hiroshima in May, 2023. The Delaware Summit will be the 4th in-person Summit and the one in India in 2025, the fifth one.

Conclusion
Acceptance of the Quad is increasing among the neighboring ASEAN countries.

It was for the first time that a reference to the Quad found mention in the bilateral Joint Statement issued after the recent visit by PM Modi to Singapore.

It is likely that acceptability of the Quad will grow amongst countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and possibly some others in the Indo-Pacific region.

To strengthen ties with ASEAN, more tangible, visible projects for the public good will be needed, especially in health and infrastructure sectors.

In the Quad foreign ministers’ Declaration of July, 2024, it is stated: “Through the Quad, we are supporting the region through practical cooperation on challenges such as maritime security, critical and emerging technologies, cyber security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, health security, climate change, counterterrorism, infrastructure and connectivity, and addressing the debt crisis through sustainable, transparent and fair lending and financing practices.”

The Quad has to work assiduously to generate benefits in these spheres for the common people of the Indo-Pacific to garner their support for this initiative.

***The writer is a Distinguished Fellow at Ananta Aspen Centre; he was the ambassador of India to Kazakhstan Sweden and Latvia; views expressed here are his own