{"id":38373,"date":"2018-04-09T06:00:17","date_gmt":"2018-04-08T20:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=38373"},"modified":"2019-02-10T16:15:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-10T05:15:08","slug":"indo-pacific-quad-please-explain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/indo-pacific-quad-please-explain\/","title":{"rendered":"The Indo-Pacific? The Quad? Please explain …"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Australia\u2019s embrace of the Indo-Pacific concept over the past five years drew mild interest from the region and curious discussion. The US\u00a0adoption of the Indo-Pacific in both its national security strategy<\/a> and national defence strategy<\/a> means the construct\/label\/geographic vision suddenly matters big time.<\/p>\n

What does the Indo-Pacific frame portend or predict for the way business will get done around here? Understandings aren\u2019t agreed. The meaning of the Indo-Pacific matters if it\u2019s \u2018an organising principle for US foreign policy\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s resumed role in the second coming of the Quadrilateral<\/a> (after a 10-year hiatus) is different, but the arguments rhyme. Again, the discussion gets a major push from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

The Indo-Pacific is an attempt to embrace everybody\u2014but a lot of nations aren\u2019t too keen on embracing the label.<\/p>\n

The Quad is a different beast because it bands four democracies\u2014the US, Japan, India and Australia. And the band is reforming because Australia is ready to play. When Kevin Rudd\u2019s Labor government won office in\u00a02007, he withdrew Australia from the band. For Rudd, the Quad was too big a provocation of China.<\/p>\n

Exit Oz from the Quad Mark I\u2014then there were three. That\u2019s why officials gathered in New Delhi last week for the 9th\u00a0trilateral meeting of India, Japan and the US<\/a>. The 9th trilateral\u2019s purposes are those of the resurrected Quad:<\/p>\n

practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; counter-proliferation; counter-terrorism; maritime security, maritime domain awareness and HA-DR [humanitarian assistance\u2013disaster relief].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Beyond the \u2018practical steps\u2019 explanation, though, everyone knows the bigger story: the boys are putting the band together because Beijing has been a bully.<\/p>\n

Both sides of Oz politics have reached bipartisanship on the Quad, as they did more smoothly on the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n

The Indo-Pacific consensus was expressed by Labor\u2019s 2013 defence white paper<\/a>, the Coalition\u2019s 2016 defence white paper<\/a> and the Coalition\u2019s 2017 foreign policy white paper<\/a>. Adding to the Indo-Pacific accord, Labor has signalled that it won\u2019t do another Kevin and squib the Quad if it wins office.<\/p>\n

Last month, Labor Shadow Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Shadow Defence Minister Richard Marles endorsed the \u2018valuable complementary role\u2019 of the reborn Quad<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It makes a space for four like-minded trading democracies to share their thoughts on regional security. The high-level discussions add another layer of co-operation to the intersecting bilateral and multilateral activities in place across the region. Defence exercises, particularly naval exercises, with these countries and others in the region also play a critical role in building operational understanding and confidence which in turn is vital for the security of the Indo-Pacific.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Trump strategies and the 2017 Australian foreign policy paper point to the shared worries of the boys in the band.<\/p>\n

Under the heading \u2018Power shifts in the Indo-Pacific\u2019, the Australian white paper declares:<\/p>\n

China\u2019s power and influence are growing to match, and in some cases exceed that of the US. The future balance of power in the Indo-Pacific will largely depend on the actions of the US, China and major powers such as Japan and India.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Turn to the Trump national security strategy to see a description of \u2018revisionist\u2019 China challenging \u2018American power, in\ufb02uence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity\u2019, wanting \u2018to shape a world antithetical to US values and interests\u2019, and seeking \u2018to displace the US in the Indo-Paci\ufb01c region, expand the reaches of its state-driven economic model, and reorder the region in its favour\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Trump strategy lauds Japan as \u2018our critical ally\u2019, notes Australia\u2019s support for \u2018our shared interests and safeguards democratic values across the region\u2019 and welcomes \u2018India\u2019s emergence as a leading global power and stronger strategic and defence partner\u2019, declaring: \u2018We will seek to increase quadrilateral cooperation with Japan, Australia, and India.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Australian historian James Curran<\/a> says the banding of the four Indo-Pacific democracies is worthy diplomatic symbolism:<\/p>\n

In essence, the Quad has already done the job its proponents want it to do: sending a warning to China. This warning is not to be underestimated given the legitimate concerns about Chinese strategic behaviour in recent years. Such is the meaning behind the euphemism of showing \u2018strength in numbers\u2019. The problem with the Quad is that no matter how important or symbolic this gesture, sooner or later the lack of real substance in its strategic intent will show.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Seeking the substance, Ankit Panda<\/a> offers a close reading of the explanations provided by the four members of the band when they reunited in November, 2017. The Quad knows what it wants to sing about: a free and open Indo-Pacific; a rules-based order; freedom of navigation and overflight; and respect for international law and maritime security.<\/p>\n

The Quad challenges China\u2019s assertiveness with high principles and practical exercises. This is the diplomacy of dissuasion, not a new \u2018instrument of hard containment\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n

ASEAN mistrusts the Indo-Pacific label and is spooked by the Quad. Australia hasn\u2019t had much success arguing that Southeast Asia is at the centre of the Indo-Pacific. The \u2018not made here\u2019 aspect of ASEAN centrality makes the association resentful of labels it didn\u2019t invent. South Korea asks quietly about the utility of the Quad. And if the utility answer is hazy, why embrace something that so angers China?<\/p>\n

Both the Indo-Pacific and the Quad offer a looking glass moment:<\/p>\n

\u2018When\u00a0I\u00a0use a word,\u2019 Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, \u2018it means just what I choose it to mean\u2014neither more nor less.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The question is,\u2019 said Alice, \u2018whether you can make words mean so many different things.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The question is,\u2019 said Humpty Dumpty, \u2018which is to be master\u2014that\u2019s all.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s embrace of the Indo-Pacific concept over the past five years drew mild interest from the region and curious discussion. The US\u00a0adoption of the Indo-Pacific in both its national security strategy and national defence strategy …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":38374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,1435],"class_list":["post-38373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-indo-pacific","tag-quadrilateral","dinkus-quad-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Indo-Pacific? The Quad? 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