NEW DELHI ¨C When four of the Indo-Pacific¡¯s leading democracies ¡ª Australia, India, Japan and the United States ¡ª revived the long-dormant ¡°Quad¡± in 2017, their objective was clear: to create a strategic bulwark against Chinese expansionism and reinforce a stable regional balance of power.
But the coalition is now adrift and the security risks this poses should not be underestimated.
The Quad¡¯s resurrection reflected a paradigm shift in U.S. foreign policy. After decades of engagement with China, including aiding its economic rise, U.S. policymakers ¡ª Democrats and Republicans alike ¡ª realized that America¡¯s biggest trade partner had become its biggest strategic adversary, bent on replacing it as global hegemon. As U.S. President Joe Biden indicated in his 2022 National Security Strategy, China is ¡°the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to advance that objective.¡±
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