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Looking for a primer on the 
Quad as the foreign ministers meet in Tokyo for their second meeting? I've got you covered: https://brook.gs/3jzZB52 1/
2/ The previous iteration of the Quad (2007) was short-lived. More details why: https://bit.ly/34v2ptF
3/ The current iteration of the Quad began in November 2017 with assistant secretary/joint secretary-level consultations on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Manila. Since then, it's met regularly & been upgraded.
4/ The Quad hasn't tended to release joint statements, but the countries' readouts & comments indicate the overlaps, the objectives (rules based order, favorable balance of power, deter Chinese aggressiveness, provide options), & agenda. Can also parse them to detect differences.
5/ Skeptics tend to fall into 2 categories: those who think the Quad is doing too much & those who think the Quad is not doing enough
6/ Despite expectations of its early demise, the Quad has nonetheless continued (w/ a major assist from China). There have been meetings in/on different domains.
7/ While people tend to focus on what the Quad as a whole has done (or not done), as important--if not more--are the constituent bilaterals & how they've evolved. This is just a glimpse of how India's defense ties hv developed with the others...
8/ Also significant are the trilaterals among the Quad countries & that some of them have with other like-minded countries
9/ In addition, the Quad constituents also participate via other platforms with like-minded partners across a range of issues...
10/ The Quad countries also engage with each other and with other partners in the defense sphere.
11/ For a sense of the interlocking bilaterals & trilaterals (w/ associated dialogues, agreements & exercises), as well as the quadrilateral, here are some of their activities in September alone.
12/ This -- + COVID-19 + Chinese assertiveness -- is the context for the Quad ministerial. If you're just focused on Australia in MALABAR or not, you might have missed some of this. So I thought I'd bring it to you in charts.
13/ Finally, a lesson that no (well, ok maybe 1 or 2) experience is a wasted one - I cld not hv done these w/o my graphics/website designing phase. Seems like a tangent on my resume, but not on a day like today.
And thx to @BrookingsFP COMM for their speedy help w/ this too!
And thx to @BrookingsFP COMM for their speedy help w/ this too!
