The naval forces of the United States, Japan, Australia and India have started a joint exercise, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby says, in the face of China s maritime assertiveness in the region.
Quad, China and order of the sea
The handout photo shows Indian army fighter jets on the deck of an aircraft carrier during the second phase of the Malabar naval exercise in the Arabian sea. Al Jazeera/Agence France-Presse/Indian Navy
THE Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known as the Quad, led by the United States was a Japanese initiative in 2007 to from an informal strategic consultative platform between the United States, Australia, Japan and India. After a decade of inactivity, the Quad was revived after 2017 under the Trump administration again at Japan’s initiative. Quad had its ‘first-ever leader-level summit’ on March 12, 2021 with a focus on collective efforts to fight the Covid pandemic.