Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue)

The Quad, or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is a group of four democracies: India, the United States, Japan and Australia. The four countries meet regularly to work together for a "free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific". That is the huge sea region stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The Quad is not a military alliance and it has no treaty. It is an informal dialogue where the four countries discuss shared problems and run joint projects.

Why does the Quad exist?

The Indo-Pacific carries a very large share of world trade by sea. Oil, goods and food for India, Japan and Australia pass through its sea lanes every day. If one powerful country could control these waters, it could put pressure on everyone else. The four Quad members want the region's seas to stay open to all, disputes to be settled by law and not by force, and small countries to be able to choose their own path.

Many experts see the Quad as a response to China's growing power and actions in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, though the Quad does not name any country in its statements.

Where did it come from?

The Quad's story has three phases.

• 2004, the tsunami: After the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004, the four countries formed a "Tsunami Core Group" to send relief quickly. This showed they could work well together.
• 2007, the first Quad: Japan's then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed the idea of a four-country dialogue. On 25 May 2007, senior officials of the four countries met informally in Manila (Philippines), on the side of the ASEAN Regional Forum. In August 2007, Abe gave his "Confluence of the Two Seas" speech in India's Parliament, linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In September 2007, Australia and Singapore joined the India-US naval exercise Malabar. China protested strongly.
• 2008, the pause: In February 2008, Australia pulled out, worried about upsetting China. The Quad went quiet for nearly ten years. In December 2012, Abe revived the idea as a "Democratic Security Diamond" of the four countries.

How was the Quad revived?

On 12 November 2017, senior officials of the four countries met again in Manila, on the side of the East Asia Summit. This is called "Quad 2.0". After that, the level of meetings kept rising:

• September 2019: the first Quad foreign ministers' meeting, held in New York on the side of the UN General Assembly.
• 12 March 2021: the first Quad Leaders' Summit, held online because of COVID-19.
• 24 September 2021: the first in-person leaders' summit, in Washington, D.C.
• May 2022: leaders' summit in Tokyo.
• May 2023: leaders' meeting in Hiroshima (Japan), on the side of the G7 summit.
• 21 September 2024: the sixth leaders' summit, in Wilmington, Delaware (USA).

India was next in line to host the leaders' summit. As of September 2026, that summit had not yet been held, but foreign ministers met in New Delhi (26 May 2026, the 11th Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting) and in Manila (22 July 2026).

How does the Quad work?

Think of the Quad like a group of four neighbours who form a residents' committee. They have no written constitution and no office, but they meet often, share information and take up joint projects. The Quad works at three levels:

• Leaders' Summit: the heads of government of the four countries.
• Foreign Ministers' Meeting: India's External Affairs Minister, the US Secretary of State, and the foreign ministers of Japan and Australia.
• Senior officials and working groups: officials who plan and run the projects.

The chair (host) rotates among the four countries. The Quad has no permanent secretariat (no head office and staff), no joint army and no common budget. Decisions are made by agreement of all four.

What does the Quad actually do?

Over the years, the Quad has moved from pure security talks to practical help for the region, often called "public goods". Its main areas are:

• Health: the Quad Vaccine Partnership (2021) during COVID-19, and the Quad Cancer Moonshot (2024) to fight cervical cancer in the Indo-Pacific.
• Maritime security: the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA, announced in Tokyo in 2022), which helps countries track "dark ships" (ships that switch off their tracking signals, often for illegal fishing). IPMDA does not build a new office. It shares its picture of ships at sea through existing regional centres. One of these is India's Information Fusion Centre for the Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in Gurugram. As of May 2026, IPMDA was running through the IFC-IOR. In June 2025, the first "Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission" put coast guard officers of India, Japan and Australia on board a US Coast Guard ship. In May 2026, the Quad launched an Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration, first focused on the Indian Ocean Region.
• Critical and emerging technology: working together on semiconductors, 5G, artificial intelligence and secure undersea cables.
• Critical minerals: a Quad Critical Minerals Initiative (2025), followed in May 2026 by a framework to build supply chains for mining, processing and recycling minerals like lithium and rare earths.
• Other areas: climate, space, cyber security, counter-terrorism, disaster relief (HADR), and the Quad Fellowship for students.

India's position

India joined the Quad but keeps its own "strategic autonomy". That means India makes its own choices and does not join military alliances. India is the only Quad member that is not a treaty ally of the US, and the only one that shares a land border with China. So India prefers to present the Quad as a force for good for the whole region, not as a group against any one country.

India also stresses ASEAN centrality: the idea that the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations should stay at the centre of Indo-Pacific cooperation. India's own vision for the region, SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region, 2015), fits well with the Quad's aims.

Commonly confused concepts

• Quad vs AUKUS: AUKUS (2021) is a security pact between Australia, the UK and the US. Its main aim is to help Australia get nuclear-powered submarines. India and Japan are not in AUKUS. The Quad does not deal with nuclear submarines and is not a military pact.
• Quad vs Malabar exercise: Malabar is a naval exercise. It began in 1992 as an India-US exercise. Japan became a permanent member in 2015 and Australia rejoined in 2020, so all four Quad countries now take part. But Malabar is a military exercise; the Quad itself is a diplomatic dialogue.
• Quad vs "Quad Plus": "Quad Plus" is an informal term for meetings where other countries (such as South Korea, Vietnam and New Zealand, during COVID-19) joined Quad talks. It is not a formal expansion.
• Quad vs I2U2 ("West Asian Quad"): I2U2 is a separate group of India, Israel, the UAE and the US, launched in 2022, focused on joint economic projects in food, water, energy and more.
• Quad vs NATO: NATO is a formal military alliance with a treaty. Under its Article 5, an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. The Quad has no such promise.

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• No clear structure: With no secretariat, no treaty and no budget, critics say the Quad depends too much on the mood of each government. The gap since the last leaders' summit (2024) shows this weakness.
• Different goals: The US and Japan focus more on security; India prefers development, technology and health; Australia's approach has changed with its governments. This can slow joint action.
• The China factor: China has called the Quad an "Asian NATO". India trades a lot with China and shares a long disputed border with it, so India must balance carefully.
• Trade tensions inside the group: US tariffs on Indian goods in 2025 strained India-US ties. Experts noted that friction on trade can spill over into Quad cooperation.
• Way forward: Experts suggest delivering visible projects for the region (health, disaster relief, maritime awareness, undersea cables, clean energy), working closely with ASEAN and Pacific island countries, and holding regular leaders' summits so the grouping keeps its political energy.

Concepts to Know

• Indo-Pacific: The joined-up sea region from the east coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific Ocean. Using one name shows that these waters are linked for trade and security.
• ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a regional group of countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore. Many Indo-Pacific meetings happen on its side-lines.
• Strategic autonomy: A country's freedom to decide its foreign policy by itself, without being tied to one power bloc.
• Maritime domain awareness: Knowing what is happening at sea: which ships are where, and what they are doing. It helps stop illegal fishing, smuggling and piracy.
• Information Fusion Centre for the Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR): A centre run by the Indian Navy in Gurugram since 2018. It collects shipping information from partner countries and shares it, so everyone gets a clearer picture of the Indian Ocean.
• Treaty ally: A country that has signed a formal defence treaty with another, promising to help if attacked. Japan and Australia are US treaty allies; India is not.
• Critical minerals: Minerals like lithium, cobalt and rare earths that are needed for batteries, electronics and defence, and whose supply is concentrated in a few countries.