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OpINION MARCH 11, 2022 | The Indian Eye 10

Quad foreign Ministers’ Meeting:

decoding the Joint Statement

The US does have the heft to deter more severe attacks by virtue of its own capabilities, and to sanction and

prosecute individuals identified as perpetrators of less severe attacks, as it has done, in a number of cases. This,

though, does not seem to have had much effect on containing low-level cyberattacks and intrusions

ABHAY KUMAR SINGH & R. VIGNESH

espite a cautious beginning
on 12 November 2017, when
dthe leaders of India, Japan,
Australia and the US met in Manila
during the sidelines of the East Asia
Summit, the Quad 2.0 has significant-
ly progressed in terms of forming a
concrete mandate for its existence.
This is evident from the comparative
analysis drawn by inferring the brief
joint statement made by the Quad na-
tions post their first meeting in 2017
and the recent joint statement that
was issued after the Quad Foreign
Ministers’ meet that took place in
Melbourne on 11 February 2022.
The first Joint Statement issued
in 2017 was devoid of any deeper
meaning but drew a lot of interna-
tional attention. On the other hand, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (2L) on the sidelines of
the geopolitical changes that took
place between 2017 and 2022 have the 4th Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting, in Melbourne (ANI Photo)
resulted in the Quad moving towards
greater institutionalization. Despite Vaccine Production: The part-
the subtle differences in the language nership for responding towards the
of the statements issued by the indi- COVID-19 pandemic marked a his-
vidual Quad nations, there has been toric new focus area for the Quad.
a growing consensus regarding areas The Quad Vaccine Experts Group has
of cooperation between them raising been established for building strong
the prospects for the formation of a cooperation to support the Indo-Pa-
concrete mandate for the Quad. cific Health Security and improving
The growing strategic relevance the region’s COVID-19 response ca-
of the Indo-Pacific region has under- pability. This reinforced the shared
pinned the evolution of both Quad 1.0 diplomatic commitment of the Quad
and2.0. Ever since the term Indo-Pa- nations towards mitigating the effects
cific was mentioned in the works of of the pandemic in the region through
the German strategic thinker Karl the production of safe, effective and
Haushofer in 1924, it has figured affordable vaccines. The Quad has
prominently in many subsequent pledged to donate more than 1.2 bil-
works of literature focusing on the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on lion doses of vaccines, of which 79
geopolitics of the Indian and Pacific the sidelines of 4th Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (ANI Photo) million doses have already been suc-
Oceans. cessfully donated across the Indo-Pa-
The press statements issued by cific as of September 2021.
the individual Quad nations after their to Freedom of Navigation (FoN) and tioned by the other nations. Climate Change: The Quad na-
first meeting in 2017 showed a certain overflight, respect of international The joint statements of the two tions have pledged to work together
degree of divergent perspectives on law and maritime security that figured leadership level meetings of the Quad to tackle the effects of climate change.
certain key issues. For instance, the prominently in the statements of the that took place in 2021 denoted that the The Quad Climate Working Group
press statement released by India’s other Quad nations. On the other areas of cooperation within the Quad focuses on three thematic areas of
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) hand, Japan’s press statement did not became more institutionalized into climate ambition, which are: limiting
did not contain any explicit reference refer to connectivity which was men- the three core working groups namely: Continued at next page... >>

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