Without mention of China and Russia, Quad demonstrates new era

WASHINGTON: Without once mentioning China or Russia, the Quad countries -- United States, India, Japan, and Australia -- on Saturday announced what is essentially a de facto security alliance aimed at countering an expansionist Beijing-led axis.
Pledging to be "a force for good that delivers real, positive, and enduring impact for the Indo-Pacific," Quad leaders said in what was called the "Wilmington Declaration" that the countries are "more strategically aligned than ever before" and that they will "buttress the Indo-Pacific for decades to come."
Only a formal mutual defense element is missing from the 5700- word Declaration issued at the end of talks between the leaders, President Joe Biden of US, Narendra Modi of India, Kishida Fumio of Japan and Anthony Albanese of Australia.
In page after page of the Declaration, the four countries, presenting themselves as the "leading maritime democracies in the Indo-Pacific" transparently detailed measures aimed at seeking a region "where no country dominates and no country is dominated" while opposing -- in an oblique reference to China -- "destabilizing or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion."

The informal alliance also pledged expansive cooperation in space and cyber domains, besides advancing clean energy and people to people initiatives. A number of measures were also aimed at restoring Quad equities in Pacific island nations where China has made rapid inroads at the expense of Quad countries.
Although the four countries have repeatedly asserted that their partnership is not aimed at Beijing, the declaration left little doubt that China is the elephant in the room, expressing "serious concern about the militarization of disputed features and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea."
And in a sign of New Delhi's growing distance from Moscow on the Russia-Ukraine war, the declaration called for a "comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in line with international law, consistent with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, including respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity," noting the negative impacts of the war with regard to global food and energy security, especially for developing and least developed countries.
"In the context of this war, we share the view that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons is unacceptable," the declaration said amid growing fears that Moscow could cross a red line which Russia in turn has said could be triggered by further NATO provocation.