US top diplomat calls for expansion of 'Quad' to secure the Indo-Pacific

Speaking at the Ananta Centre India-US Forum, US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun called for an expansion of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, better known as the Quad, which is an informal grouping of India, Australia, Japan and the US.

New Delhi:US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun is in the capital for a three-day visit where he stressed for and expanded Quad to secure the Indo-Pacific.

His visit came ahead of the 2+2 ministerial dialogue slated to be held on October 26-27 in New Delhi.

Speaking at the Ananta Centre India-US Forum on Monday, he said, “The Quad is a partnership-driven by shared interests, not binding obligations, and is not intended to be an exclusive grouping. Any country that seeks a free and open Indo-Pacific and is willing to take steps to ensure that should be welcome to work with us.”

This comes just days after the ministerial level ‘Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’ was held in Tokyo among foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the United States of America last week.

“Together we stand for a pluralistic vision that will ensure that our countries, and all the region’s diverse countries, can thrive as sovereign and prosperous nations in a free and open Indo-Pacific. One might call this a vision of a Pax Indo-Pacifica, a region at peace, protected and made prosperous in equal measure by those who comprise the Indo-Pacific,” Stephen Biegun added.

The emphasis of all these nations has been the changing times and the reality of a new global post-WWII alliance structure that can sustain the “free and open order, our strategic relationships need to reflect the geopolitical realities of today and tomorrow. Much has changed over the past seventy years, and our thinking must evolve as well,” the US deputy secretary of state said.

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Biegun added, “As the United States assesses our interests and how they intersect with India’s, we have seen the conditions emerge for an organic and deeper partnership—not an alliance on the postwar model, but a fundamental alignment along with shared security and geopolitical goals, shared interests and shared values.”

Highlighting the issue of the big “elephant in the room: China”, the US deputy secretary of state said that countries have been overtly “cautious” about Beijing’s concerns over fully fleshing out the Quad grouping and allow other like-minded nations to join in.

“We have been too cautious. Last week’s important and successful Quad ministerial leaves the United States confident that perhaps, just maybe, we can say that we are present at the creation of those strategic linkages,” he said.

Biegun also asserted that there is a need for Quad nations to stay engaged at all levels and “regularise” contact “between the Quad’s diplomats, defence officials, and technical experts. As one example, early in March Foreign Secretary Shringla and I began weekly calls with Quad partners and other Indo-Pacific counterparts to discuss how we could coordinate efforts to combat the pandemic and plan for our collective recovery,” he said.

“These relationships should go beyond government-to-government contact to span all areas of mutual—economics, development, trade, investment, health, technology and innovation, as well as security cooperation,” he added.

The development of the Indo-Pacific energy and infrastructure through the next decade would amount to nearly $25 trillion in the capital. Only cooperation and expansion can sustain such an important strategic project according to Biegun.

“In Southeast Asia, Quad partners can deepen engagement with ASEAN, cooperate in defending the freedom of the seas, and work together in governance, health, environmental protection, water conservation and transparent data sharing, especially regarding the Mekong,” he said.

He will be holding important foreign office consultations and meetings before heading to Dhaka which is his second leg of the two-country tour.