Jaishankar to Visit Japan - Quad Think Tank Forum Comments
Jaishankar to Visit Japan
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will visit Japan from March 6th to 8th to hold the 16th Japan-India Foreign MInisters’ Strategic Dialogue with Ms. Kamikawa Yoko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, where both will exchange views on cooperation toward realising a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”, and bilateral relations as well as regional and international affairs.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ statement states that Jaishankar’s visit “will provide strategic guidance to [India’s] functional cooperation in areas” like defence and digital technologies, semiconductor supply chains, clean energy, high-speed rail, industrial competitiveness and connectivity.
Jaishankar will also visit South Korea during his trip.
Raisina Quad Think Tank Forum
Addressing the inaugural Raisina Quad Think Tank Forum in New Delhi earlier this week, Jaishankar said that “the Quad [was] here to stay and grow, and one of the key messages of the grouping by India, Australia, Japan and the US is that “others cannot have a veto on our choices”, in an omitted reference to China. He also said that the Quad “reflects the growth of a multipolar order, and is a post-alliance and post-cold war thinking that is against spheres of influence”.
Jaishankar also spoke about the Quad’s efforts to provide public goods to Indo-Pacific countries; he said, “by pooling together our technical expertise, [the Quad] is actually enhancing the ability of the Indo-Pacific countries to select smart and reliable options…[it] has commenced discussions about deploying digital public infrastructure to deliver public goods in the Indo-Pacific”.
Jaishankar’s Australian and Japanese counterparts emphasised that the Quad was about “creating resilience and offering more choices to partners of the Quad across the region”.
Penny Wong, Australian Foreign Minister, said:
Australia-India relationship has become more consequential at a time when strategic competition, climate change and economic disruption are reshaping the region. Practical cooperation within the Quad provides an opportunity to contribute to the region’s resilience of region, and the four countries have a vision of an Indo-Pacific free from intimidation and coercion where disputes are settled in line with international law.
US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who was also in attendance, said, “the Quad is not about forcing the region to choose between strategic competitors, but “about preserving and creating options so that…countries can make decisions to benefit their people”.
What we’re reading this week
An Op-Ed piece by Brahma Chellaney in Nikkei Asia:
https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Biden-s-neglect-of-the-Quad-carries-Indo-Pacific-risks
Takshashila’s All Things Policy podcast, where Australian researcher Arzan Tarapore speaks to Bharat Sharma about the Quad’s progress and future: