Different interest among the 4 countries that constitutes the Quad - Australia, India, Japan, United States

Gregory Poling

Inserted 3 years ago

“There is just not enough shared strategic interest or shared desire to accept risk on the military front. The way that the four different Quad members view their interests in the Indo-Pacific leads them to prioritise different areas. For instance, for the US, South China Sea and East China Sea are vital. Same goes for Japan. And for Australia, it also includes the Western Pacific. But for India, the Quad is about the Indian Ocean and South China Sea is a secondary theatre. So, while India may be willing to help with capacity-building, it’s not going to actually take risks that might involve violence or escalation in the South China Sea. It’s one thing for India to have a tense, antagonistic relationship with Beijing. It’s another for India to be part of an explicit coalition that seeks to contain Beijing. That would feel far too much like being part of a bloc. And India historically has resisted that.”

Aljazeera

Director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies