Opinion | Quad Meets In Delhi, But Trump's China Visit Casts A Shadow

The Quad's purpose has not disappeared. But a ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, however sincerely convened, will not be enough to prove it

The timing, to put it plainly, is awkward. This week, the foreign ministers of the Quad— S Jaishankar, Marco Rubio, Penny Wong, and Toshimitsu Motegi—are descending on New Delhi to talk maritime security, critical minerals, and the future of a free Indo-Pacific. All worthwhile. All necessary. And all of it happening 10 days after US President Donald Trump flew to Beijing and sat down with Xi Jinping.

The difficulty is that 10 days earlier, Trump landed in Beijing, clasped Xi Jinping’s hand, and proceeded to construct what Beijing was pleased to describe as a “constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability". It’s a governing framework, as Xi called it, and an attempt to convert Trump’s congenital transactionalism into something that would outlast even the next American president.

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China is committed to purchasing at least $17 billion in US agricultural goods annually through 2028. It agreed to buy 200 Boeing aircraft. The US approved approximately 10 Chinese technology companies to purchase Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips. Xi was invited to Washington in September, with further meetings in November and December.

Xi warned that mishandling Taiwan would put the entire relationship into “great jeopardy". The US readout didn’t mention Taiwan at all. Whether that was diplomatic caution or something more deliberate, nobody in New Delhi will be asking Rubio directly. But they’ll be thinking about it.

So, when the ministers meet in New Delhi, the real question on the table won’t appear on any agenda: has Washington’s rapprochement with Beijing quietly made the Quad redundant?

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