Quad needs a restart and the ball is in American court

Any dissension within the Quad and fissures in America's Indo-Pacific partnerships will be music to ears in Beijing, after having called out the grouping as an Asian NATO in the making.

- MONISH TOURANGBAM

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in a group picture at All Quad Foreign Ministers meeting, in Washington, D.C. on July1. (@DrSJaishankar X/ANI Photo)

(@DrSJaishankar X/ANI Photo)

With President Donald Trump blowing hot and cold on the India-US relationship that was once called a “defining partnership of the 21st century”, the future of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) and more immediately, the fate of the Quad Leadership Summit scheduled in New Delhi is under the scanner. Conjectures abound, particularly on the likely nonattendance of President Donald Trump, even as the ambassador designate to India, Sergio Gor landed in the Indian capital to connect with the Indian leadership and get a lay of the land before he presents his credentials.

While the Quad is ideally be driven by its strategic purpose and goals, it cannot be ignored that the absence of the US President from the leadership summit will emit confusing signals about the immediate future of this grouping.

The Trump administration's approach to the Quad is indeed bewildering. It was during Trump 1.0, that the Quad was revived in 2017 from a deep slumber, with the relay baton being taken over by the succeeding Biden administration. It was during his first term that the Pacific Command was rechristened the Indo-Pacific Command. Even as he took oath for his second term as the US President, foreign ministers of the Quad countries had convened in Washington DC to take stock of their Indo-Pacific partnership. Earlier this year in June, the Foreign Ministers met again in Washington DC to emphasise strengthening “maritime and economic security, critical and emerging technologies, and responding to regional challenges.”