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Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the Quad as a “force for good,” as he attended the Quad summit in Tokyo on May 24. The summit among the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States took place exactly three months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a joint statement issued after the meeting said the member countries “discussed respective responses to the conflict in Ukraine and the ongoing tragic humanitarian crisis and assessed its implications for the Indo-Pacific”. As the summit was taking place, Russian and Chinese forces carried out joint flights near the Sea of Japan and East China Sea.
Underlining the evolution of the Quad from a security-focused grouping to one with a far more ambitious and varied agenda, one of the main takeaways from Tokyo last week was not from the security domain but the launch of U.S. President Joe Biden’s new trade initiative for the region, called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), which was witnessed by leaders of 13 countries, including Prime Minister Modi. The countries include Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Together, they account for 40% of the global GDP.
The economic framework will broadly rest on four pillars: trade, supply chain resilience, clean energy and decarbonisation, and anti-corruption measures. A joint statement said the framework intends to “advance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness” in these economies. Suhasini Haidar, in this analysis, explains the significance of the IPEF, its prospects, implications for India, and why there is some scepticism, not least from within the U.S., about just what it can deliver, given that officials made it clear that it is not a traditional trade deal.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi participate in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity launch event at the Izumi Garden Gallery. | Photo Credit: AP
The Quad also announced the formation of the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) which will build a “faster, wider, and more accurate maritime picture of near-real-time activities in partners’ waters.” This common operating picture will integrate three critical regions in the Indo-Pacific — the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean Region.
There will be some challenges in implementing this initiative for information sharing and maritime surveillance, writes Dinakar Peri. For India, two issues limit its ability to further expand its role: infrastructure constraints and continued delay in posting Indian liaison officers at others facilities and centres in the region.
More Analysis from the Quad Summit Suhasini Haidar explains how in the past year, the Quad has clearly undergone a change, from a largely strategic, theoretical grouping based on ensuring “a free and open Indo-Pacific”, to one with a number of specific practical tasks – on COVID-19, technology, climate change and infrastructure, space and cybersecurity. You can read or watch her takeaway here.
China may not have been explicitly mentioned by the Quad, but former Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia writes that China is not only the glue that holds the Quad together, it is also the fuel that may drive the grouping’s inner consolidation.
The Hindu, in an editorial, says the IPEF will face a credibility challenge given how previous U.S. initiatives such as the Blue Dot Network and the Build Back Better Initiative have made little headway in changing the region’s infrastructural needs. Negotiators will need to move with both caution and clarity.
The Top Five
A local resident stands next the Karkhiv fire station, built in 1887, on May 26, 2022. - Shells and missiles have been falling on cities since the start of the war in Ukraine, damaging historic buildings. Cultural services try to preserve their memory and record the damages with advanced laser technology and 3D scans. | Photo Credit: AFP
What we are reading — the best of The Hindu’s Opinion and Analysis
1. Shyam Saran on the evolution of Chinese power in the past decade and how the growing asymmetry between India and China has shaped bilateral relations. Since the global financial crisis, he writes, China has come to assert that the allies and partners of the U.S. cannot count on U.S. power to deter China which is building a narrative of inevitability about its hegemony.
2. Narayan Lakshman, on the horrific May 24 shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on how the attack has reminded the U.S. once again on its failure to act on its gun problem.
3. As the Ukraine war grinds into its fourth month, there are no clear winners in Europe, writes Stanly Johny.
4. Harsh V. Pant and Kartik Bommakanti on implications for the Indian military, which uses a significant amount of Russian-origin weapons systems, from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
5. Srinivasan Ramani on Anthony Albanese, Australia’s new PM, and the challenges he faces at home.
Neighbourhood Watch
Sri Lankan Tamils arrive near Danushkodi. | Photo Credit: L. Balachandar
- Caught between international pressure over how to engage with the Myanmar military junta regime and India’s own ties with its neighbour, the government is likely to not include the Myanmar Foreign Minister at the India-ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting set to be hosted by the External Affairs Minister in mid-June.
- External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar described Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal as India’s most trusted global partners along with Japan and members of ASEAN, speaking at an Asian Confluence River Conclave in Guwahati. He said the prioritisation of the northeast, comprising eight States, by the Narendra Modi government had made it obvious that India should work with its most trusted global partners.
- India and Japan have agreed to work together on assisting crisis-hit Sri Lanka, the Japanese government said, following the recent meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Fumio Kishida in Tokyo. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the leaders “discussed the situation in Sri Lanka and confirmed that they will cooperate with each other in light of the current economic crisis and deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the country.”
- Afghanistan must ensure education for girls, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval said at the 4th Regional Dialogue on Security being held in Tajikistan capital Dushanbe. Emphasising India’s decision to help Afghanistan with humanitarian aid despite no India-Afghanistan relations with the Taliban regime, he asserted that India remained an “important stakeholder”.
- Thousands participated in a rally held in capital Colombo on Saturday to mark the 50th day of ongoing agitations against the government at the oceanfront in the wake of a severe economic crisis.
- For over 80 Tamils, including children and infants, who took boats and landed in Tamil Nadu in the last few months, the risky journey was not only about fleeing Sri Lanka’s dire economic situation. It was also about chasing an elusive dream — a secure, peaceful life, writes Meera Srinivasan.
- Beulah Rose on the ghost town of Dhanushkodi, which is the first point of refuge for Sri Lankan Tamils leaving the island for better economic prospects.
- Watch: How Dhanushkodi became a land of promise for Sri Lankan Tamils
- The Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping may for the first time begin an expansion process to include new developing country members, the Chinese government said last week. China, which is the BRICS chair for this year, said the recently held meeting of BRICS Foreign Ministers “reached consensus on the BRICS expansion process”.
- The United Nations top human rights official said on Saturday she raised concerns with Chinese officials about the impact of the broad application of counterterrorism and de-radicalisation measures on the rights of Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang region. Michelle Bachelet, who visited Xinjiang as part of a six-day trip to China, said the visit was not an investigation but an opportunity to raise concerns with senior Chinese leaders.
- Praise for Russia, distrust of the Quad: A new survey underlines the impact of government messaging in shaping public opinion in China.
