The Quad (US, Japan, India, Australia Security Dialogue) : Updates and Discussions
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Quad Joint Statement on Cooperation to Promote Responsible Cyber Habits
We the Quad partners of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States are launching a public campaign to improve cyber security across our nations: the Quad Cyber Challenge. We are inviting Internet-users across the Indo-Pacific and beyond to join the Challenge and pledge to practice safe and responsible cyber habits. The Challenge reflects our continuing Quad efforts to strengthen individuals’ and communities’ cyber security awareness and action, as well as to foster a more secure and resilient cyber ecosystem to benefit economies and users everywhere.Internet-users worldwide are targets of cybercrime and other malicious cyber threats that can cost trillions of dollars each year and compromise sensitive, personal data. Many cyber attacks can be guarded against by simple preventive measures. Together, Internet users and providers can take small steps to significantly improve cybersecurity and cyber safety. These steps include routinely installing security updates, enabling enhanced identity checks through multi-factor authentication, utilizing stronger and regularly changing passphrases, and knowing how to identify common online scams, like phishing.
The Challenge provides resources, such as basic cybersecurity information and training, for all users – from corporations to education institutions, small businesses, and individuals from grade school students to the elderly, and will culminate in events during the week of April 10th. The Quad partners are working to ensure everyone has access to the resources needed to make informed decisions while online and using smart devices. Learn what you and your organization can do to foster a more safe, secure, and resilient cyberspace so that we can collectively be better protected from cyber threats.
Quad Joint Statement on Cooperation to Promote Responsible Cyber Habits | The White House
We the Quad partners of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States are launching a public campaign to improve cyber security across our nations: the
Joint Statement of the Quad Ministerial Meeting in New Delhi
The following is the joint statement released by the Secretary of State of the United States and the Foreign Ministers of the Governments of Australia, India, and Japan on the occasion of the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.Begin Text:
We, the Foreign Ministers of Australia, India and Japan and the Secretary of State of the United States of America met in New Delhi, India on March 3, 2023, for the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. Our meeting today reaffirms the Quad’s steadfast commitment to supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is inclusive and resilient. We strongly support the principles of freedom, rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes without resorting to threat or use of force and freedom of navigation and overflight, and oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo, all of which are essential to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
We reiterate our conviction that the Quad, acting as a force for regional and global good, will be guided by the priorities of the Indo-Pacific region through its positive and constructive agenda. Through the Quad, we seek to support the region through practical cooperation on contemporary challenges such as health security, climate change and the clean energy transition, critical and emerging technologies, infrastructure and connectivity, addressing the debt crisis through sustainable, transparent and fair lending and financing practices, space cooperation, cyber-security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, maritime security and counterterrorism.
Reaffirming our consistent and unwavering support for ASEAN centrality and unity, and the ASEAN-led architecture, including the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum, we remain committed to supporting implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and will be guided in our work by ASEAN’s principles and priorities. We welcome Indonesia’s 2023 ASEAN Chairmanship and will support its Chair theme “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth,” as we identify tangible areas for the Quad to support the work of ASEAN. In addition, we are committed to further strengthening our respective relationships with ASEAN, thus creating a platform for greater Quad collaboration in support of the AOIP.
We are committed to supporting Pacific Island countries in line with the objectives of the Pacific Islands Forum’s 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, guided by Pacific priorities of climate change, resilient infrastructure, and maritime security. We support regional institutions in the Pacific and are also further strengthening our cooperation with the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), to address the region’s most pressing and important challenges. We welcome India’s leadership in finalizing the IORA Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.
We are pleased to note the progress made under the Quad Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Partnership (HADR) for the Indo-Pacific, since our last meeting in September 2022, when we signed onto the Guidelines for the Partnership. We welcome the outcomes of the first HADR tabletop exercise and biannual meeting held in India in December 2022. We look forward to the finalization of the Partnership’s Standard Operating Procedures which would enable an efficacious and coordinated response mechanism.
We concur that the rules-based international order is anchored in international law, including the UN Charter, and the principles of sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity of all states. We are committed to cooperate to address attempts to unilaterally subvert the UN and international system, in consultation with our partners and through multilateral and international platforms. We reiterate our unwavering support for the UN Charter, including its three pillars, and our steadfast commitment to strengthening the UN and international system through a comprehensive reform agenda, including through expansion in permanent and non-permanent seats of the UN Security Council. In this regard, we commit to active and constructive engagement in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) process on Security Council Reforms with an overall objective of making the UN Security Council more effective, representative, and credible.
We will support meritorious and independent candidates for elections in the UN and in international forums to maintain the integrity and impartiality of the international system. We note with appreciation the UN Secretary General’s call for full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this regard, we underscore the importance of achieving SDGs in a comprehensive manner without prioritizing a narrow set of such goals, and reaffirm that the UN has a central role in supporting countries in its implementation.
We recognize that peace and security in the maritime domain underpins the development and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific, and reiterate the importance of respect for sovereignty, consistent with international law. We reiterate the importance of adherence to international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China Seas. We strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the area. We express serious concern at the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities.
We are determined to deepen engagement with regional partners, including through information-sharing, capacity-building and technical assistance, to strengthen maritime domain awareness; to counter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; to enhance their capability to protect and develop offshore resources, consistent with UNCLOS; to ensure freedom of navigation and overflight; and to promote the safety and security of sea lines of communication. We look forward to continuing these discussions at the Quad Maritime Security Working Group meeting hosted by the United States in Washington, D.C., in March 2023. In this context, we welcome the progress made under the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA).
We unequivocally condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations. We denounce the use of terrorist proxies and emphasize the importance of denying any logistical, financial, or military support to terrorist organizations which could be used to launch or plan terrorist attacks, including transnational and cross-border attacks. We reiterate our condemnation of terrorist attacks, including 26/11 Mumbai, which claimed lives of citizens from all Quad countries, and Pathankot attacks. We are committed to working together with our regional and international partners to promote accountability for the perpetrators of such terrorist attacks, including through designations by the UN Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee. In this regard, we express our concern at attempts to politicize the working of the UNSC Sanctions Regimes and call on all states to maintain the transparent, objective, and evidence based working methods of UNSC Sanctions Committees.
We note with deep concern that terrorism has become increasingly diffuse, aided by terrorists’ adaptation to, and the use of, emerging and evolving technologies such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and the internet, including social media platforms for recruitment and incitement to commit terrorist acts, as well as for the financing, planning, and preparation of terrorist activities. We welcome the focused discussions on these themes at the Quad Counter-Terrorism Policy Meeting and tabletop exercise hosted by Australia in October 2022. We are pleased to announce the establishment of the Quad Working Group on Counterterrorism, which will explore cooperation amongst the Quad, and with Indo-Pacific partners, to counter new and emerging forms of terrorism, radicalization to violence, and violent extremism. We look forward to its first meeting in the United States in 2023 to continue our discussions on this global issue.
We strongly emphasize the importance of maintaining peace, stability, and prosperity and express our deep concern at the deteriorating situation in Myanmar. In this regard, we emphasize the need for complete cessation of violence, the release of all those arbitrarily detained, resolution of issues through dialogue, unhindered humanitarian access, and transition to an inclusive, federal democratic system in Myanmar. Towards this, we reaffirm our consistent support to the ASEAN-led efforts, including the work of the ASEAN Chair and Office of the Special Envoy, and call for the full implementation of ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus. We also encourage the international community to work together in a pragmatic and constructive way towards resolving the crisis in Myanmar.
We condemn North Korea’s destabilizing ballistic missile launches, including the launch of yet another Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) on February 18, 2023, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs). We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and urge North Korea to comply with its obligations under UNSCRs. We reconfirm the necessity of immediate resolution of the abductions issue. We stress the importance of addressing proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies related to North Korea in the region and beyond.
We continued to discuss our responses to the conflict in Ukraine and the immense human suffering it is causing, and concurred that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. We underscored the need for a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter. We emphasized that the rules-based international order must respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, transparency, and peaceful resolution of disputes.
We welcome the announcement of the first class of Quad Fellows, who will begin their academic pursuits in the United States in August 2023.
We look forward to the next Quad Leaders’ Summit being hosted by Australia this year.
We will work closely to align and complement the Quad’s agenda with Japan’s Presidency of the G7, India’s Presidency of the G20, and the United States’ APEC host year in 2023.
We will continue to meet regularly to deliver concrete benefits and serve as a force for good, deepening practical and positive cooperation for the benefit of the Indo-Pacific region.
End Text.
Posting here because JASDF personnel have also reportedly come in as observers for the exercise.
So the IAF has already thrown in the towel . They're practising with US lead FAs & stealth bombers yet apart from the MRFA tender which'd materialize God knows when & Super Sukhoi upgrade cum modernization ( total nos unknown ) there are no plans to induct an additional 2-3 squadrons of Rafales vide the G2G route . Of course we've no clue about the Su-57M nor our plans to acquire it if at all until there's a surprise announcement one day of the signing of some agreement which looks difficult in the light of such exercises . @Rajput Lion ; @Bali78
New Tejas production line installed.. [ much ahead / too late - no clue ]
No additional tejas mk1A orders yet. = New line will be idle until orders?
Mk 2 has gone for air intake studies - now I don't even want to bring first flight topic.
Amca waiting vfor CCS approval.
PMO asking HAL complete work on time.
MRCBF - orders delayed
Military budget - Not getting utilized
Private sector s waiting for orders ..
God only knows the PLAN.
Point no 3 - it's supposed to be a verification procedure not expected to go beyond July '23 but then again news is unverified so who knows .
Latest news is that India may go in for a lease of the B1b bombers. I mean this bit of news would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic.
Bangladesh deep-sea port promises strategic anchor for Japan, India
New Delhi's influence in Dhaka helps foil Chinese plans for similar foothold
asia.nikkei.com
For MRFA, F-35 Block-4 and Rafale F5 are both in serious contention. Looks like IAF is also looking towards bombers to counter PLAAF's H-6s. But whether they go for B-1Bs or Tu-160 is undecided at the moment.
They are also sending subtle message to the Chinese that rather than India, they themselves will have to contain with a 2-front war.
As for extra 2 squadrons of Rafale? Well, the French have conveyed that they need minimum order of 100 jets to transfer a production line in India. I think these 100 Rafales will come for both AF and Navy.
Upgrade has begun with Digital RWR implementation for 129 Sukhois.
Already replied above.
Modi ji has asked both HAL and DRDO to expedite AMCA and Tejas MK2. If AMCA is available by 2030, then rather than Su-57M, we should focus more towards the 6th gen fighter. Defence deals with Russia under current circumstances look difficult, but I am sure we'll find a way out.
Quad steps up to security, top commanders to meet in California
Quad chief of defence staff level meet signals a pushback of democratic powers to aggressive China in the Indo-Pacific.
Senior military commanders from Quad member countries, including India’s chief of defence staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, will meet in Sunnylands in California to attend a high-profile meeting on Indo-Pacific Security on May 15-17 in a clear indication that the grouping is now taking security cooperation to the next level before the Quad Summit in Sydney on May 24.
Among other invitees to the meeting hosted by Admiral John C Aquilino, Commander, US Indo-Pacific Command, are: General Yoshihide Yoshida, chief of Staff, joint staff, Japanese self-defence forces and General Angus Campbell, chief of defence force, Australia.
A vice-admiral rank representative of the UK chief of defence staff is also likely to attend, given that Australia, the UK and the US have their own grouping, Aukus, whose focus overlaps with that of Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue). This is General Chauhan’s first visit to the US.
Quad Malabar naval exercises are scheduled off the coast of Sydney in August this year and the apex meeting of military commanders of this grouping next week is seen as both a game-changer – Quad leaders have treaded carefully on the issue of military co-operation until now – and an effective response to the aggressive challenge posed by Chinese in the Indo-Pacific. Although Chinese President Xi Jinping in presence of then US President Barack Obama in September 2015 had said that Beijing did not intend to pursue militarization of contested Spratly Islands, the PLA has done just the contrary by militarizing the entire South China Sea with the world waiting for the promised Asian Pivot by the US.
"India, after the 2020 PLA aggressions in East Ladakh is convinced that China has no intentions of resolving the boundary issue bilaterally and is putting pressure on India in the Eastern sector particularly in the Siliguri corridor. It is in this background that India has decided to take help from multilateral platforms such as QUAD to rein in the rampant aggression of the PLA on the land as well as the Indo-Pacific,” a senior official in India’s security establishment said on condition of anonymity. China has been choking India through a string-of-pearls, seaports in the Indian Ocean and using access denial in the Pacific and Far Pacific including South China Sea.
Already, India, Japan, and Australia have deepened defense co-operation by sharing US-made military platforms such as the P 8I anti-submarine aircraft, C 130 J Hercules, C-17 heavy lift transporters, and Chinook helicopters.
The Quad CDS level dialogue in Sunnylands, where Obama hosted Xi in 2013, is expected to take things to the next level, and perhaps indicates that India has fully exited the Cold War mindset and the resident suspicion involved in dealing with like-minded powers such as the US, Japan, and Australia apart from strategic partner France.
With China sending no less than 53 surveillance and survey ships to the Indian Ocean between 2017 and 2021 (numbers since then are still being toted up) and the numbers continuing to climb, India faces a serious challenge from the PLA Navy in the Indian Ocean Region, especially with Beijing establishing new ports in Cambodia and long-term plans to make Hambantota a dual use seaport India is also reviewing the contents of the leaked memo titled “Pakistan’s Difficult Choices” penned by Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to the country’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif advocating “real strategic” partnership with China and avoiding any appearance of appeasing the west (read US).
"National interest is paramount for the Narendra Modi government and Quad is a platform for all like minded democratic countries to join hands to counter the Indo-Pacific challenge without sacrificing India’s strategic autonomy. The speed at which China is growing economically and militarily with President Xi holding leverage against 148 countries through Belt Road Initiative (BRI), India has been forced by Beijing to seek multilateral Quad help with Japan and Australia in the same boat,” said a former Indian foreign secretary who asked not to be named.
Quad steps up to security, top commanders to meet in California
Quad chief of defence staff level meet signals a pushback of democratic powers to aggressive China in the Indo-Pacific.
QUAD should be viewed as partner not competitor: Indonesia
Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has described Quad and Aukus as “partners and not competitors” to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean). The apparent change of heart, which comes ahead of the May 24 Quad summit in Sydney, is being viewed as a positive in India that shares a...