The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue: The West's Response to China in the Indo-Pacific

Abstract

As China’s actions have become increasingly aggressive in the Indo-Pacific, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’s (Quad) growing interconnectedness reveals the West’s desire to preserve the liberal order. The Quad-- composed of the United States, Australia, India, and Japan-- was revived in 2017 amidst China’s encroachment on the sovereignty of Indo-Pacific nations and international waters. Through increased activity in infrastructure development, military interoperability, and key resource networks, the Quad’s renewal marks an acceleration of Western efforts to counter China’s growing threats to Western hegemony. By distilling the Quad’s activity into these three areas of cooperation, this paper examines the grouping’s actions and their implications for Western-China relations. In the area of infrastructure development, the Quad has emphasized a diversification of funding and high-quality practices to reduce reliance on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and has promoted democratic priorities through the formation of the Blue Dot Network (BDN). Within military interoperability, the expansion of Exercise Malabar to include all Quad nations and the decision to host the exercise in the Bay of Bengal reveals the Quad’s increased challenge to China’s encroachment on Indo-Pacific oceans. The Quad’s desire to reduce Indo-Pacific nations’ reliance on China is evident in its efforts to exert influence over key resource networks such as undersea communication cables, Covid-19 vaccines, and global supply chains. The Quad’s increased activity within these three sectors represents the grouping’s elevation to an increasingly concrete alliance, emerging as one of the West’s primary measures to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.