The leaders of the Indo-Pacific Quadrilateral partnership (Quad)—the United States, Australia, Japan, and India—announced new efforts on Sept. 21 to boost their shared maritime security capabilities and expand other areas of regional cooperation.
President Joe Biden hosted the fourth in-person Quad Leaders Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday to discuss a range of topics concerning the four nations, including ways to enforce international law in the waterways of the Indo-Pacific.
Ahead of the summit, the White House announced that the Quad partners will soon begin their first joint coastguard exercises that will become a rotational training effort. The United States will lead the first round of joint training with Australian, Japanese, and Indian personnel coming aboard a U.S. Coast Guard vessel to pick up and exchange skills.
The White House also announced that the Quad will expand its existing Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) initiative. The IPMDA aims to increase transparency about maritime activity in the region and how nations may be asserting their various claims in the Indo-Pacific waterways. This initiative provides awareness not only to Quad members but also other regional partner nations.
The four-way Quad partnership has potential as a check on China’s expansionist pursuits; however, its members have avoided announcing any quadrilateral military alliance that could potentially face war with China if it moves to enforce its model of governance in the region. Instead, the United States has pursued separate bilateral alliances and security partnerships specifically positioned to respond to hostilities in this region.
Biden met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a bilateral discussion ahead of the main Quad meeting. They emphasized shared values between their countries regarding defense and security cooperation as well as economic ties and climate initiatives.
According to a White House readout, Biden discussed support for maintaining peace throughout Taiwan Strait with Albanese since Taiwan governs itself independently from mainland China despite Chinese claims over it.
Biden then met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for another bilateral discussion where they praised each other’s leadership roles over recent years regarding defense capabilities enhancement and transforming Japan’s role globally. They reiterated opposition against any attempts by force aimed at changing Taiwan Strait’s status quo while emphasizing peace maintenance there.
They also discussed shared efforts related to critical technologies like semiconductors and artificial intelligence which are areas experiencing growing competition from China.
The White House published a joint fact sheet highlighting existing U.S.–India cooperation on various issues including defense technology procurement plans by India such as MQ-9 Reaper drones along with partnership agreements related C-130J Super Hercules military cargo aircraft maintenance support provided by both countries’ administrations.
Additionally,the White House published another roadmap laying out clean energy initiatives between US-India which includes expanding manufacturing solar/wind energy components along directing $1 billion financing through International Bank for Reconstruction & Development towards expanding India’s domestic clean energy supply chain.
This roadmap aims at mobilizing additional financing into priority clean energy manufacturing sectors using public/private financial tools & innovative financial vehicles while identifying ways expanding supply chains for clean energy components & working African partner nations on new solar/electric vehicle projects
