The Quad’s paper tiger problem: Why the Indo-Pacific strategy is faltering |
In February 1946, George Kennan sent his “Long Telegram” from Moscow, providing the intellectual blueprint for the “containment” of the Soviet Union. Kennan argued that the West needed a strategy of “long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment” based on a clear-eyed understanding of the adversary’s psychology. Today, Washington is attempting to replicate this feat in the Indo-Pacific through the “Quad”—the strategic grouping of the U.S., India, Japan, and Australia.
However, like the Cold War strategy, the current approach is struggling with its internal contradictions. Although Washington views the Quad as its best defense against China’s expansionist foreign policy, on-the-ground developments in the Indo-Pacific are beginning to paint a much more complex picture. If the Quad is ever to mean more than just a “talk shop,” it must correct three crucial errors that currently confer an advantage on Beijing.
The most obvious vulnerability in this bloc lies in the divergent national interests of its members. Although Washington, Tokyo, and Canberra increasingly resemble one another in their “containment” stance, Delhi remains the outlier........