The Quad meeting on Sept. 21 in Wilmington, Delaware among the leaders of the U.S., India, Japan, and Australia ended with a catch-all statement of supposed new “modes” of cooperation. There were a variety of areas including infrastructure investment, health security, pandemic protection, telecommunications, disaster relief, maritime security, undersea cables, critical and emerging technologies, and coast guard cooperation. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan of course denied that the alliance is targeting China, claiming that the four parties each have different views on China. At the same time, he added, “But we are also putting the United States and our allies and partners in a position to effectively defend our interests and to defend the rules of the road that have kept the peace in the Indo-Pacific for a long time. We’re going to continue to do that.” So much for the disclaimer.
The new modes of operation of the Quad are also clearly aimed at bringing the Southeast Asian and Pacific Island nations into their “net.” Talk of setting norms for “digital infrastructure” and building “ports” in the region is clearly an attempt to counter and undermine investment from China’s Belt and Road Initiative. It remains a big question whether these nations, not to speak of the U.S. alone, have the economic wherewithal to accomplish any major infrastructure development in the region.
