DNA Explainer: What is the 4-nation Quad and the idea behind it

Leaders of the United States, Japan, Australia and India gathered in Tokyo on Tuesday for a summit of the Quad nations. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), colloquially the Quad, is a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan and the United States that is maintained by talks between member countries.

Tuesday's meeting marks the first in-person gathering of the group for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office last October and Anthony Albanese who was sworn-in as the new Prime Minister of Australia on Monday. Besides these two leaders, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden are also attending the meeting.

Read | Quad summit: PM Modi, Joe Biden to hold 'constructive, straightforward' dialogue on Ukraine

Formation of the Quad

After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, four countries - India, Japan, Australia, and the United States created an informal alliance to collaborate on disaster relief efforts. It was in 2007, that the then Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, formalised the alliance as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or the Quad. 

However, it fell dormant for nearly a decade after Australia left the group in 2008. During that time Australia was particularly worried that its participation in the group could anger China. The attitude once again changed after seeing China's growing influence in the region and rising threat of the communist country. This resulted in the group being resurrected in 2017. 

Quad was revived with broadening its objectives and creating a mechanism that aimed to slowly establish a rules-based international order. Both the Trump and Biden administrations saw the Quad as key to a pivot toward placing more focus on the Indo-Pacific region. The Quad leaders held their first formal summit in 2021 and met again virtually in March that year.

Drawbacks of the Quad

Quad is not structured like a typical multilateral organisation and lacks a secretariat and any permanent decision-making body.

The Quad group should have focused on creating policy along the lines of the European Union or the United Nations.

Instead it has focused on expanding existing agreements between member countries and highlighting their shared values.

Additionally, unlike North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the Quad does not include provisions for collective defence.

Instead, the Quad chooses to conduct joint military exercises as a show of unity and diplomatic cohesion.

In 2020, the trilateral India-US-Japan Malabar naval exercises included Australia, marking the first official grouping of the Quad.

Objectives of the Quad

1. The primary objectives include maritime security, combating Covid-19 crisis, especially vis-à-vis vaccine diplomacy, addressing risks of climate change, creating an ecosystem for investment in the region and boosting technological innovation.

2. The objective behind the Quad group is the initiative for strategic and significant sea routes in the Indo-Pacific region to be free from any influence.

3. To secure a rules-based global order, a liberal trading system, and freedom of navigation. The group is recommitting to a shared vision for an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, resilient and inclusive.

4. To work against predatory trade and economic policies and offer financial help to nations with debt in the Indo-Pacific region.

5.  To ensure peaceful resolution of disputes, and that all countries are able to make their own political choices, free from coercion.

6. Quad members have also indicated a willingness to expand the partnership through a so-called Quad Plus that would include South Korea, New Zealand, and Vietnam amongst others.