The Quad: Security Cooperation Between the US, Japan, India and Australia

By J. Berkshire Miller

The quadrilateral dialogue, an informal gathering between officials from the United States (US), Japan, India and Australia, has been revived after a decade-long hiatus. The return of the “Quad” has been met with mixed reactions. Some view it as an essential mechanism to promote regional rules and the freedom of navigation; while others remain concerned that it is aimed at curtailing China’s role in the region, and that there is a need to balancing these goals alongside the desire to engage with China. In order for the Quad 2.0 to be successful, it must balance these concerns and concentrate on conrete, focused and tangible areas of cooperation that will ensure the grouping delivers substantive outcomes.

This publication was written by J. Berkshire Miller, Senior Visiting Fellow with the Japan Institute of International Affairs and is a pre-reading for the Australia-US-Indo-Pacific Strategy Conference.