The Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held in New Delhi on 25 May, after a 10-month hiatus. Before the meeting, there was much speculation about the Quad’s continued survival. One piece compared the Quad’s architecture to the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group, arguing that the Quad should not be judged less efficient or moribund for the lack of summit-level engagement.[1] Another argued along much the same lines, but added that Quad meetings at the sub-leader level are important because they create ‘habits of cooperation’ that are vital to sustaining the momentum. It was argued that a break in summit meetings offered an opportunity to assess progress on delivering the deliverables promised in previous meetings.[2] At the successful conclusion of the ministerial four-way, it is worth reflecting on what the Quad has yielded over its existence to assess how it could move forward.

Quad Summit Meetings and Deliverables

Since 2021, there have been six Quad summit meetings, with each yielding a host of outcomes. The inaugural summit, held virtually in 2021, outlined the definition and scope of the grouping’s activities as rooted in ‘a shared vision for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ and a ‘rules-based maritime order in the East and South China Seas’.[3] Two features have since become its distinct hallmarks. The first is the high velocity of leader-level interaction. The second in-person summit meeting was held within months of the first in Washington at the invitation of US President Joseph Biden in 2021.[4] Subsequent meetings were held quite frequently, initially alternating between virtual and in-person meetings, but after 2023 exclusively in person.

The second distinctive feature of the Quad has been the vast topicality and sheer breadth of the outcomes. The grouping, initially formed to counter Chinese assertions in the East and South China Seas, eventually found itself discussing and formulating responses to crises as varied as the Ukraine conflict and a series of crises in West Asia. The initial focus on Chinese maritime military assertiveness evolved into a desire to counterbalance its broader foreign policy across regions, particularly with the eventual inclusion of the ASEAN region and Pacific Island Countries (PICs). Beyond geography, the range of issues was catholic as well. Along with traditional touchstones such as maritime and economic security, coverage of human security issues, including infrastructure development, humanitarian assistance, and capability-building, was also emphasised.

This dizzying diversity is emblematised by the sheer number of declared outcomes. In-person dialogues provided the more fertile ground for these declaratory statements, with ministerial-level interactions often playing a preparatory and coordinating role. Therefore, the fourth summit meeting, held in Tokyo in May 2022, became the vehicle for a large number of deliverables spanning debt management, climate change adaptation, cybersecurity........

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