► The post-tsunami origins of Indonesia in 2004
After the 2004 Indonesia earthquake and tsunami that killed 230,000 in the Indian Ocean, the United States, India, Australia and Japan, which had provided relief, came together for the first times on January 26, 2004. Three years later, they formed the “Quadrilateral Dialogue for Security”, the Quad. Its first major act was a joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean. The following year, the Australian prime minister at the time, Kevin Rudd, a Chinese speaker, however, withdrew from the alliance. He did not want to appear in such a powerful group seen as openly challenging China, which has become a very important economic partner for Australia.
► An increasingly military alliance
A decade later, violent clashes on the China-India border pushed for the previously dormant alliance to be reconstituted, with a stronger commitment from Canberra. During the Covid crisis, relations between Beijing and Canberra deteriorated to an extreme point when Australia requested a transparent international investigation into the origins of Covid-19 in China from the end of 2019. Beijing then blocked all Australian imports. In 2020, the four countries again participated in joint military maneuvers, making the Quad increasingly appear as a military alliance.
→ READ. End of the honeymoon between Australia and China
► Joe Biden strengthens the commitment of the United States
While the Trump administration was content to pay lip service to the Quad, his successor, Joe Biden, went further by organizing the first – virtual (due to Covid-19) – summit of the leaders of this alliance. in March 2021, before meeting in person last September in Washington. This proactive approach perfectly illustrates Washington’s new strategy, consisting in building coalitions of countries and institutions around specific common needs rather than purely traditional military alliances.
→ REREAD. Joe Biden at the top with the “Quad”, an anti-China alliance
► From “Asia-Pacific” to “Indo-Pacific”
For the United States, Australia and Japan, the Quad is an instrument to woo India, traditionally attached to its status as a non-aligned power in superpower battles. The deadly fighting on its border with China in 2019 may have changed it. India is “the crucial, critical member of the Quad”, explained in November Kurt Campbell, responsible for national security in the Asia-Pacific region at the White House. In its strategic plan for the region, the United States has also stopped talking about “Asia-Pacific” to refer to the “Indo-Pacific”.
► A military force but also health and climate
The Quad is more than a matter of defense, assure the four countries today. Its members want to develop actions of soft power who, coming from democratic countries, would contrast with authoritarian China. The Covid-19 offered the group a new raison d’être. It is within the framework of the Quad that the four countries have promised the distribution of 1.3 billion doses of vaccines, of which 485 million have already been delivered. But other issues are addressed: so-called “clean” maritime transport, illegal fishing, the fight against global warming, but also the establishment of a safer IT and Internet infrastructure.