Alignment and convergence of interests in the Indo-Pacific region led to the revival of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue in 2017, popularly known as the Quad, comprising Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. After substantive preparatory work by officials from the four countries and a ministerial meeting in 2019, the first Leaders’ Summit was held in March 2021. It signalled a major policy initiative by the group to uphold a rules-based regional order and to promote peace, stability, and prosperity through collective action.
Less than a decade after its revival, the Quad now finds itself on life support, primarily due to its de-prioritisation so far by the Donald Trump administration in its second term. While there were some indications earlier that the next summit may be held at the end of 2025 or early 2026 in India, the lack of interest from the US became evident from mid-2025 onwards. New and unexpected tensions in the US-India relations, the US warming up to China and signalling a new conception of a future international order, and President Trump’s upgraded priorities in the western hemisphere and the Middle East became other contributing factors.
The Quad has so far held six leader-level summits — four in person and two in virtual mode — with two summits each in 2021 and 2022, and one each in 2023 and 2024. It started with broad-based objectives focused on maritime security and the delivery of public goods, setting up three working groups at the first summit. Several additional working groups and domain-specific partnerships were added at subsequent summits. A vision statement was issued at the fifth summit in 2023.
Despite divergent approaches, China has been a constant theme from the viewpoint of deterrence and resilience. Over time, the Quad statements gradually became more specific and pointed towards China. Initial references remained generic, like opposing coercion, but later talked about standing up to the militarisation of disputed islands, maritime militia, and aggressive actions of its coast guard. Maritime Security has been a key pillar and central theme throughout, with initiatives like the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), joint exercises, the incorporation of non-traditional maritime security threats, cooperation among the coast guards, and the Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI) programme. Under critical and emerging technologies, work progressed on technology standards, supply chains, 5G, open RAN, and semiconductors. The initial working group on vaccines during the Covid pandemic was later changed to a broader health security partnership. The climate working group, also set up at the first summit, aimed at coordination at COP summits, with subsequent initiatives including green shipping network, clean hydrogen partnership, and the Q-CHAMP (Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package) programme.
The Cyber Working Group launched at the second summit was later upgraded to a Cyber Security Partnership. A Quad satellite data portal was launched, with space situational awareness cooperation added in due course. Under infrastructure, a coordination group was started. Further, partnerships for cable connectivity and resilience, ports of the future, and HADR were announced.