Experts React: Quad Leaders’ Summit 2024

The 2024 Quad Leaders’ Summit was hosted by President Biden in Wilmington, Delaware, on September 21, 2024. Despite upcoming political transitions, the Quad leaders reaffirmed their continued commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. Additionally, the leaders announced several substantive new initiatives strengthening maritime security, supporting health cooperation, and improving logistics in the region. The group also recognized imminent threats from an increasingly expansionist China and raised concerns about ongoing human rights situations. This summit saw India and its prime minister Narendra Modi take a leadership position in the Quad.

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The Quad Reflects a Growing Indian Consensus on the China Threat

Raymond E. Vickery, Senior Associate (Non-resident), Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies

The main reason for the revival of the Quad in 2017 and its elevation to the leaders’ level in 2021 was to involve India in the security architecture of the Indo-Pacific while working around the traditional Indian external affairs policies of “nonalignment,” “strategic autonomy,” and “no alliances.”

India is the “Indo” in “Indo-Pacific.” Without India, there is a huge gap in the Indo-Pacific’s security architecture. At Wilmington, India left no doubt that it is prepared to assume leadership in a renewed Quad. Thus, the 2024 Quad Leaders’ Summit marked a spectacular step forward in India’s participation in Indo-Pacific security.

The Quad’s approach to integrating India into a comprehensive Indo-Pacific security architecture has been to involve India in the nonmilitary aspects of security. These nonmilitary aspects of security are vital. China tends to take a holistic view of the means to achieve its international objectives. The democracies of the Indo-Pacific must do the same if China is to be convinced to play by the rules in the region.

However, several initiatives addressed at the 2024 Wilmington Quad Leaders’ Summit have military applications and could be supportive of military action. For example, the enhanced maritime domain intelligence partnership and the integrated coast guard maneuvers announced at the summit strengthen the Quad countries’ security objectives in the region. The overarching goal vis-à-vis China is to build peace and stability and not stir up confrontation. War between any or all of the Quad members and China could be disastrous for all parties. However, as stated at the outset in the Quad’s Wilmington Declaration Joint Statement, “We strongly oppose any destabilizing or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion.” This statement is squarely pointed at an expansionist China.

While the joint statement leads with deliverables in the fields of health (the Quad Cancer Moonshot) and natural disaster response, the Quad has not shied away from facing China nor the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and trouble in the Red Sea. Prime Minister Modi has taken a leadership position in the Quad. This reflects a growing Indian consensus around the threats posed by China and the adverse impacts on India of foreign instability and conflict previously thought to be outside of India’s interests.

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The Quad Is Here to Stay

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) S. L. Narasimhan, Senior Associate (Non-resident), Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies

At the 2024 Quad Leaders’ Summit, the countries reviewed the progress made on the commitments from the previous summits as per convention. Like in previous joint statements, the countries reaffirmed their commitment to shared values, the rule of law, and a free and open Indo-Pacific, as well as highlighted the importance of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the Indo-Pacific. Additionally, this time, the Quad countries announced several new projects. For instance, health security was given the importance it deserves. Announcements on the Quad Cancer Moonshot to fight cervical cancer and mpox are significant. Additionally, Quad members’ continued commitment to HPV testing is notable.

Quad partners’ assistance in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief for Papua New Guinea and Vietnam, featured in the joint statement, underlined the countries’ focus on supporting partner countries in the region.

With regard to maritime security, the announcement of establishing the Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI), the first-ever Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission in 2025 to improve interoperability and advance maritime safety, and the Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network pilot project are important developments.

On the infrastructure front, the Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network pilot project to leverage the expertise of countries in developing port infrastructure is a welcome effort. The cable projects that are important for sustained communication have been given their due importance. In the critical and emerging technologies segment of the joint statement, the Quad BioExplore Initiative is an interesting highlight as it aims to support joint AI-driven exploration of diverse nonhuman biological data across all four countries.

Concerns about Russia, North Korea, China, and Myanmar are expressed in the joint statement without mentioning the states’ names. The Middle East is cited with reference to human rights, the release of hostages, and a ceasefire. Actions of the Houthis are condemned and support for the UN Charter is expressed. But the icing on the cake from the statement is certainly the following declaration: “The Quad is here to stay.”

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A Quad Summit High on Style and Substance

Aman Thakker, Adjunct Fellow, Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies

In the lead-up to the 2024 Quad Summit on September 21, there was an expectation that the summit was likely to be high on summitry and not on deliverables. The shifting logistics—the summit shifted hosts from India to the United States—as well as the fact that two of the leaders, U.S. president Joe Biden and Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida, were participating in their last Quad Summit, added to these expectations.

However, when the leaders gathered in Wilmington, Delaware, all four countries made substantive agreements on several new initiatives, ranging from health to maritime security, critical and emerging technologies, and infrastructure development.

Maritime security saw some major new deliverables aimed at promoting regional development and deeper coordination between the four countries. Key new initiatives included the launch of a new Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI), which seeks to support regional partners and complement the existing Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA). The countries also announced a new initiative involving the coast guards of all four countries with the Quad-at-Sea Observer Mission as well as a logistics pilot project to build shared airlift capacity, thereby deepening interoperability and building joint capacities beyond the Quad navies.

The Quad also launched a new Quad Cancer Moonshot, agreed to expand Quad Fellowships for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students and Quad Infrastructure Fellowships, and unveiled a new partnership on port infrastructure. The Quad joint statement also highlighted collaborative efforts with countries outside of the Quad. These include, among others, humanitarian assistance to Vietnam and Papua New Guinea, subsea cable connectivity with Nauru and Kiribati, Open Radio Access Network and telecommunications partnerships with Palau and Tuvalu, and clean energy projects in Fiji, Comoros, Madagascar, and Seychelles.

Each of these areas and deliverables buttresses the final words of the joint statement—that the Quad, despite political transitions, is here to stay.