Get audio access with any FP subscription. Subscribe Now ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN

Get audio access with any FP subscription.

ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN

The recently concluded Quad foreign ministers’ meeting should help to ease some of the recent anxieties around the group. Analysts have been tempted to measure the vitality of the group—comprising Australia, India, Japan, and the United States—by the frequency of its summitry or mentions in American strategic documents. But that would be a mistake. Granted, much of the Quad’s pomp and pretense have been stripped away, but what remains is a group that is more narrowly focused and self-interested—and therefore more credible.

Until last year, the Quad boasted a dizzyingly broad agenda, from climate change to curing cancer, with paltry results. Then, at the last foreign ministers’ meeting, in July 2025, it streamlined its work to four security-related efforts: maritime security, economic security, critical and emerging technology, and emergency assistance. Thus, this week’s meeting yielded potentially important outcomes on maritime security, with the announcement of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration (IPMSC) and a new maritime common operating picture.

The recently concluded Quad foreign ministers’ meeting should help to ease some of the recent anxieties around the group. Analysts have been tempted to measure the vitality of the group—comprising Australia, India, Japan, and the United States—by the frequency of its summitry or mentions in American strategic documents. But that would be a mistake. Granted, much of the Quad’s pomp and pretense have been stripped away, but what remains is a group that is more narrowly focused and self-interested—and therefore more credible.

Until last year, the Quad boasted a dizzyingly broad agenda, from climate change to curing cancer, with paltry results. Then, at the last foreign ministers’ meeting, in July 2025, it streamlined its work to four security-related efforts: maritime security, economic security, critical and emerging technology, and emergency assistance. Thus, this week’s meeting yielded potentially important outcomes on maritime security, with the announcement of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration (IPMSC) and a new maritime common operating picture.

This refocusing, often overlooked, was a key turning point in the Quad’s evolution. It was driven by the Trump administration’s well-known antipathy to the old international order—or the provision of “international public goods,” as the Quad put it.

Equally, however, this evolution has been reinforced by the revision and diminution of the U.S.-India strategic partnership. The bilateral relationship—which in many ways has been the engine  of the Quad’s recent development—was severely ruptured in 2025. That partnership is being repaired, but it will not bounce back to its previous shape. For both........

© Foreign Policy