Australia-India-Japan-US Quad seeks relevance as foreign ministers meet in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: Foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the US will meet on Tuesday in New Delhi in an effort to regain momentum in the Indo-Pacific-focused group known as the Quad that critics say has slowed under President Donald Trump.

The meeting between the countries’ top diplomats – Australia’s Penny Wong, India’s S.Jaishankar, Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – will be the third such gathering since September 2024.

The four nations had expected to hold a summit in India last year, but it never came to fruition amid tensions between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Washington’s tariffs and other matters.

But the countries share concerns about China’s growing power and Rubio – who arrived in India on Saturday for a four-day visit aimed at shoring up relations with New Delhi – has stressed the importance of maintaining a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”

“We don’t just want the Quad to be a semi-annual meeting of like-minded countries,” Rubio said on Sunday in an interview with Indian media. “We want it to actually be a forum on which we continue to partner on things.”

Rubio said the US would like the Quad to take “concrete actions” on issues like maritime security and critical minerals, adding that diplomats would work toward a leaders’ meeting later this year.

“I don’t have a date on that yet, but hopefully this year we’ll find a time for all four leaders to get together,” Rubio said.

Tokyo is especially eager to diversify its supplies of critical minerals after Beijing stopped shipments of some materials used in aerospace, defence and chip-making industries to Japan following a diplomatic dispute.

The Quad meeting comes as the US and Iran have circled around a possible deal to end their three-month conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The closure by Tehran of the crucial waterway has upended energy markets and disrupted the global economy, an issue that is likely to feature prominently in Quad discussions.

Previous Quad meetings have put forward initiatives to maintain “the free and open maritime order” in the Indo-Pacific by improving information gathering on what is happening in their waters.

Last week, a Japanese foreign ministry official said Japan expected the US-Israeli war on Iran to be raised, along with tensions in the East China Sea and South China Sea, where China’s heightened military presence in disputed waters has escalated tensions with Tokyo, the Philippines and other countries.

Beijing has criticized the Quad as a Cold War-style construct aimed at containing its development.

India, too, has territorial disputes with China, though Modi had signaled a willingness to improve ties with Beijing amid his tensions with Trump.

New Delhi has pressed for a Trump visit to India, a trip that would likely be tied to a Quad summit. Analysts have questioned whether a lack of leader-level engagement has downgraded the Quad’s importance.

The Japanese official said the timing of a leaders’ meeting would be up to the host, India, to determine.

“It is quite difficult to get all four leaders together,” the official said.

Trump has been distracted by the war in Iran, unsuccessful efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine and the disruption of relations with Quad partners by his global tariff offensive.

But Trump has recently lauded Modi, telling a US reception in New Delhi by phone on Sunday that he loved the Indian prime minister.

“India can count on me, 100%,” Trump said.

المصدر: Free Malaysia Today