Rubio Says Quad Is Moving From Dialogue to Action in Indo-Pacific
WASHINGTON — The United States, India, Japan and Australia are moving beyond diplomatic consultations and toward practical cooperation on maritime security, infrastructure and regional resilience, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.
Speaking at a congressional hearing, Rubio described the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known as the Quad, as a key part of the Trump administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
“The Quad, an important alliance in the Indo-Pacific between India, Japan, Australia,” Rubio said, referring to the four-country grouping that also includes the United States.
Rubio said the Quad has already held multiple meetings and is preparing for additional high-level engagements later this year. He said he recently took part in a Quad foreign ministers’ meeting in India, where members focused on concrete projects rather than diplomatic discussions alone.
“The other reason I was there was in addition to the bilateral meetings, we were able to host a meeting once again of the foreign ministers of the Quad,” Rubio told lawmakers.
“There are a number of things we’re working on, and now we have actionable items that we’re beginning to focus on,” he said.
Rubio said one major area of cooperation is maritime domain awareness, with the four countries working to improve monitoring of activity across the Indo-Pacific.
“One of the things we’ve agreed to work on is domain awareness, working together and pooling our resources so that we can have domain awareness about what’s happening out in the sea,” Rubio said.
He said the initiative could help identify suspicious maritime activity, sanctions evasion, threats to undersea communications networks and other regional security challenges.
“If we can pool the resources of these four countries, it would be a benefit to the region writ large,” Rubio said.
Rubio also said Quad members are discussing infrastructure projects in the Pacific Islands region, including a possible port facility.
“There’ll be a new port facility in the region that we’re going to work together on for one of the small Pacific islands,” he said, later indicating that discussions were underway with Fiji.
Rubio said the administration hopes to convene a Quad leaders’ summit before the end of the year.
“We’re hoping to be able to do one this year,” he said.
The Quad has become one of the most prominent strategic groupings in the Indo-Pacific, bringing together four major democracies with shared concerns over maritime stability, supply chains, regional security and China’s growing influence. (Source: IANS)
