QUAD

The External affairs ministerial meeting of QUAD group of member comprising the India, Japan, Australia, The US held at Tokyo, Japan.

ØQUAD intends to expand the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) into the Indian Ocean Region

About QUAD:

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was the first to propose the formation of Quad in 2007.

QUAD: Timeline of Events

The formation of the QUAD, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, can be traced back to several key events:

2007 Asian Arc of Democracy: The Quadrilateral aimed to establish an "Asian Arc of Democracy". It covers Central Asia, select Southeast Asian nations, Mongolia, and the Korean Peninsula. China was omitted, leading to criticism and concerns of anti-Chinese sentiment.

2012 Maritime security: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proposed the concept of the "Democratic Security Diamond,". It emphasizes the need to review Japan's pacifist constitution and strengthen security ties.

2017 Australia's re-entry: Australia initially withdrew from the Quadrilateral in 2008 to improve relations with China. However, they later re-engaged, adopting a more assertive stance despite potential economic repercussions.

2018 Trilateral Exercise: The Malabar Exercise, a joint military exercise between India and the US. It was temporarily discontinued due to US sanctions on India after a nuclear test. It was reinstated in 2002 and expanded to include Japan in 2015, involving combat maneuvers and simulated war games.

Overall, these events played a significant role in establishing and developing the QUAD as a forum for strategic cooperation among the participating nations.

Functioning of QUAD:

The Quad is a loose grouping rather than a formal alliance. It does not have a decision-making body or a secretariat, or a formal structure like NATO or the United Nations.

The alliance is maintained through summits, meetings, information exchanges, and military drills.

The Quadrilateral met five times in 2017–2019. During the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi in 2018, the navy chiefs of Japan, US, Australia, and India came together, one of the first indications of the revival of the Quad's security structure.

Since March 2021, member states of the Quad and their leaders have hosted regular “Leaders Summits”, which have been both online and in-person.

In the month of March 2021, the Quad leaders met virtually for the first time. In September 2021, the first in-person meeting of Quad leaders was held. A similar summit of Quad leaders is being hosted by Japan.

QUAD Summit 2022: The QUAD Summit was held in Tokyo on 24th May 2022.

QUAD Summit 2023: The QUAD Summit 2023 was hosted by Australia.

The next Quad Leaders' Summit is proposed to be held in India in 2024.