Power doesn’t always arrive with a bang. Sometimes, it hums quietly through the rhythm of assembly lines, the precision of a robotic arm, or the silent extraction of lithium from ancient rock. We often think of strategy in terms of diplomacy and deterrence, but the deeper architecture of power is economic, woven through trust, shared labour, and mutual capability.

The philosopher Byung-Chul Han wrote that today’s conflicts are no longer “viral" but “neural". They are less about overt aggression, more about systems of dependency. And in that sense, resilience is no longer a matter of who has the most firepower, but who controls the circuit boards, critical minerals, and production standards that make the firepower work.

Real alliances are not built in summit rooms but in the subtle choreography between supply chains and shared intent. That’s why a Quad Industrial Compact is necessary evolution. One that transforms alignment from a diplomatic gesture into an economic structure robust enough to anchor the future.

On May 31 at the Shangri-La Dialogue, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth underscored the urgency of integrating industrial bases across allies, noting, “It’s one thing for an adversary to see multinational forces… It’s another… to see an integrated defence industrial base supporting those forces."

The US-led Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience (PIPIR) reflects that vision. The message to allies was clear. Symbolic alignment will not suffice. Partners must deliver shared capabilities.

This doctrine reflects a drastic if not perilous situation. China reigns supreme in advanced manufacturing, controlling over 70 per cent of global critical minerals processing and 80 per cent of solar manufacturing. This creates economic dependence as a tool of coercion. Simultaneously, US policy volatility, from tariff swings to exclusionary subsidies further accentuates uncertainty for partners seeking long-term alignment.

Even as the recent India-Pakistan conflict re-hyphenated India in Washington’s imagination, now more than ever, it is important we keep our eye on the ball, that is ever so quickly approaching.

A Quad Industrial Compact is necessary to deepen trade, investment, innovation, and supply chain linkages among the United States, India, Japan, and Australia. It would anchor multilateral cooperation in shared economic strength, reduce exposure to coercive dependencies, and transform diplomatic convergence into resilience.

Geopolitical threats are sharpening as economic coercion becomes a standard tool of statecraft. The Quad is already the Indo-Pacific’s leading “soft-security" framework, but the line between soft and hard power is blurring. Economic heft underwrites diplomatic influence. A formal industrial framework among the Quad countries would reinforce deterrence by embedding economic interdependence, making strategic decoupling costly and cooperation sticky.

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