{"id":13938,"date":"2021-02-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/20-02-2021\/3rd-quad-ministers-meeting-concluded-recently\/"},"modified":"2021-02-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T00:00:00","slug":"3rd-quad-ministers-meeting-concluded-recently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/20-02-2021\/3rd-quad-ministers-meeting-concluded-recently","title":{"rendered":"3rd Quad ministers meeting concluded recently"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News:<\/strong> India for the first time used the word \u2018<strong>Quad<\/strong>\u2019, signalling closer alignment with the 3 other nations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More about the third meeting of QUAD Foreign Ministers held on 18th Feb 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Ministry of External Affairs has released <strong>\u20183rd India-Australia-Japan-USA Quad Ministerial Meeting\u2019<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>All 4 nations reiterated their <strong>common vision for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific<\/strong> and <strong>extended their support<\/strong> for\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rules-based international order<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Freedom of navigation<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Peaceful resolution of disputes<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>ASEAN cohesion and centrality <\/strong>in Indo-Pacific.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Multiple Issues<\/strong> were also discussed by all 4 members.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Recent developments in Myanmar<\/strong>: Need for Democratic Transition and Rule of Law was highlighted by India.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The coronavirus pandemic<\/strong>: All four members committed to\n<ul>\n<li>Cooperate in addressing Pandemic related challenges.<\/li>\n<li>Enhance access to affordable vaccines, medicines and medical equipment.<\/li>\n<li>India\u2019s efforts at providing vaccines to 74 countries were also appreciated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Climate change<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cooperation in areas such as maritime security, supply chain resilience and counter-terrorism<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>About QUAD:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is also known as <strong>Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>QUAD is an informal group of India, US, Japan and Australia.<\/li>\n<li>It is a strategic dialogue with the objective to <strong>ensure a free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo Pacific.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The idea was first mooted by Japanese PM Shinzo Abe in 2007.\n<ul>\n<li>Although the genesis may be traced back to 2004 Tsunami relief and rescue missions where all four came together.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Shared values<\/strong> between the nations are:\n<ul>\n<li>Political democracies<\/li>\n<li>Market economies<\/li>\n<li>Pluralistic societies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Backdrop<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Rising Chinese Influence and Assertion in Indo-Pacific<\/li>\n<li>Chinese unilateral claim over Nine-Dash Line and ignorance of International Court of Arbitration Verdict<\/li>\n<li>India China Standoff<\/li>\n<li>Iron fist handling of Hongkong Protests<\/li>\n<li>Imperialistic attitude toward Taiwan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Foreign ministers of the four countries held their first meeting under the \u2018Quad\u2019 framework in New York in September 2019.<\/li>\n<li>In November 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Timeline:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>2007:<\/strong> Japanese PM Shinzo Abe mooted the idea of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue\n<ul>\n<li>Could not materialise due to the reluctance of Australia<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>December 2012:<\/strong> Shinzo Abe again initiated a concept of <strong>Asia\u2019s Democratic Security Diamond<\/strong>, involving Australia, India, Japan and the US.\n<ul>\n<li>The aim was to safeguard the maritime commons from the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>November 2017:<\/strong> QUAD Coalition was finally given present day form with active participation of India, US, Australia and Japan.\n<ul>\n<li>The aim was to keep critical sea routes open and free for navigation in Indo-Pacific.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Importance of QUAD for Indi<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Countering Chinese Influence: <\/strong>Recent stand-offs on Indo-China Border and reluctance of Russia to step in and build pressure is forcing India to look for alternatives.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Post COVID Diplomacy: <\/strong>The disruption across the world and non transparent systems of China pose an opportunity for India to take lead and become the World&#8217;s Manufacturing Hub.\n<ul>\n<li>India can leverage its expertise in the vaccine and pharma industry to increase its soft power.<\/li>\n<li>Further, Japan and the US want to shift their manufacturing companies out of China in order to curb its imperialistic behaviour.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Net Security Provider in Indian Ocean: <\/strong>India under the <strong>SAGAR initiative <\/strong>wants to become a net security provider in Indian Ocean.\n<ul>\n<li>QUAD cooperation may give India access to multiple strategic locations for creating Naval bases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Multipolar World: <\/strong>India has supported rule based multipolar world and QUAD can help it in achieving its ambition of becoming regional super power.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Challenges before QUAD<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Formal opposition by China: <\/strong>China has formally intimated its displeasure over the QUAD meetings.\n<ul>\n<li>It is being termed as Asian NATO.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Trade and Supply Chains:<\/strong> As seen recently, China is trying to leverage its position in Trade and Commerce to arm-twist other nations especially China and Japan.\n<ul>\n<li>Recently, MV Anastasia, an Australian coal-carrying ship was stranded for more than a month on the Chinese Coast. Even Indian Sailors got trapped in that.<\/li>\n<li>China threatened to stop the supply of rare earth metals to the Japanese electronic industry.<\/li>\n<li>Corona pandemic disrupted the Global supply chain due to lockdown in China.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chinese Closeness to ASEAN: <\/strong>With the signing of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), ASEAN and China have come further close.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cheque Book Diplomacy of China:<\/strong> The One Belt One Road Initiative, Maritime Silk Route, Unsustainable Debt and Project Fundings, etc are being deployed by China to attract small nations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Different Aspirations of QUAD Nations:<\/strong> QUAD\u2019s coherence may suffer due to\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s bid to balance <strong>QUAD and RIC (Russia, India and China)<\/strong>,<\/li>\n<li>The reluctance shown by Australia for QUAD in past,<\/li>\n<li>Japan and the US are seeking their own economic interests with China.<\/li>\n<li>Also there is a lack of coherence on the definition of Indo-Pacific.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Strengthening Blue Dot Network:<\/strong> All four countries must pool their resources to check the Economic might of China, rather than just letting it function as a certification agency for infrastructure projects.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Coherent strategy:<\/strong> All the member countries must develop a unified approach to tackle China rather than act in Individual interests.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Formalise the talks: <\/strong>The formalisation may help to give QUAD a more structured format.<\/li>\n<li>QUAD can be an effective tool to counter Chinese adventure and imperialism ambitions in Indo-Pacific.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.financialexpress.com\/defence\/third-quad-ministerial-meeting-to-discuss-regional-global-issues\/2196951\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News: India for the first time used the word \u2018Quad\u2019, signalling closer alignment with the 3 other nations. More about the third meeting of QUAD Foreign Ministers held on 18th Feb 2021 The Ministry of External Affairs has released \u20183rd India-Australia-Japan-USA Quad Ministerial Meeting\u2019. All 4 nations reiterated their common vision for a free, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/1879413current-affairs (2).jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}