THE BIDEN administration has quickly picked up and expanded on what may have been the most far-sighted U.S. foreign policy initiative under President Donald Trump — an effort to forge a multilateral partnership with Japan, India and Australia in support of an “open and free” Indo-Pacific region. That means a region not subject to domination by China and its autocratic model. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or “Quad,” which originated in 2004 and was revived in 2017 by Mr. Trump’s national security team, got a big boost last week with its first — albeit virtual — summit meeting of the four leaders. This week, senior U.S. officials are visiting Tokyo and New Delhi as well as South Korea ahead of the new administration’s first high-level talks with China.
Under Mr. Trump, the Quad focused principally on maritime security. But at the summit, the leaders jointly agreed to tackle climate change, the “challenges presented by new technologies” and the covid-19 epidemic. They launched a tangible and potentially significant project — to jointly manufacture and distribute throughout Southeast Asia up to 1 billion doses of coronovirus vaccine by the end of 2022. Like most of what the four leaders said and did, the vaccine drive is not explicitly aimed at China — but it will offer an alternative to Beijing’s own aggressive drive to extend its influence in the region, through both soft and hard power.
There’s little doubt the new grouping owes its existence to Chinese ruler Xi Jinping and the aggressive foreign policies he has pursued in the past decade — from a military buildup in the South China Sea to the promotion of a new, high-tech-driven form of autocracy as a model for global governance. The Quad foundered in the early 2000s in part because of Australia’s lack of enthusiasm; but that country has since become a prime target of the Xi regime’s politically motivated trade sanctions and heavy-handed efforts to silence critical views of China by academics and journalists. India, with its long tradition of non-alignment, was also a lukewarm Quad participant until last year, when it became embroiled in the worst border hostilities with China in decades. Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the one saying that “the Quad has come of age.”
That said, the strength of the grouping should not be overstated. It is not a military alliance and is unlikely to become one anytime soon; if the Xi regime launches a war in the Pacific in the coming years — say, to conquer Taiwan — it might not be of much help. Under its new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, Japan appears less invested in the initiative than it was under his hawkish predecessor, Shinzo Abe. Perhaps most troubling, the Quad casts itself as a group of democracies promoting liberal values, but Mr. Modi’s government has been so repressive of free speech and civil liberties that India was recently downgraded to “partly free” in the Freedom House survey.
Promoting the Quad is a smart move by the Biden administration. But it still must strengthen U.S. military capabilities in the region and bolster trade relationships with Asian countries if it is to effectively counter China in the coming years. The Quad is no substitute for U.S. economic and military strength.
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