An expert’s point of view on a current event.

The Quad Is Dead, Long Live the Quad

In an increasingly dangerous era, the group’s old patterns of cooperation will not suffice.

Arzan Tarapore,

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A visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at a gathering of foreign ministers of the Indo-Pacific Quad at the U.S. Department of State in Washington on July 1.U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at a gathering of foreign ministers of the Indo-Pacific Quad at the U.S. Department of State in Washington on July 1. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

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A flurry of summit meetings assembled leaders from the Indo-Pacific last week, from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo to Gyeongju. But questions linger over one other summit meeting that was planned for this month. This year is India’s turn to host the summit meeting of the Quad, an informal grouping that brings together Australia, India, Japan and the United States; the Quad started in 2007 and lasted until 2008, and was revived during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term. But after U.S.-India bilateral relations soured this past summer, Trump had reportedly been reluctant to attend. Recent news of a possible trade deal may clear the way for the summit to proceed. The question over the summit’s timing, or if it will even take place, reflects deeper uncertainties over the Quad’s future.

Now more than ever, however, the Indo-Pacific region needs the four countries to work together. It faces a daunting range of security hazards, from unrelenting natural disasters, to unchecked Chinese coercion of neighbors, to an unfettered Chinese arms buildup to take control of Taiwan. As American credibility looks shaky, the risk of major war is rising.

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