The leaders of the Quad group of countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met at their sixth summit level meeting at Archmere Academy, Biden’s former school in Claymont, Delaware, to announce a broad range of outcomes. These included the launch of a new coast guard exercise, a logistics network, expansion of maritime surveillance.
In terms of positions, the Quad strongly condemned aggression in the East and South China Sea and expressed alarm over the war in Ukraine, noting that all four leaders had visited the country.
The countries announced the Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission in 2025, to improve interoperability and maritime safety. Future coast guard missions are planned for after 2025. A logistics network pilot project was also launched, which will involve Quad countries sharing airlift capacity to support disaster response across the region.
A Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI), to train Quad partners “to monitor and secure their waters, enforce their laws, and deter unlawful behaviour” was also announced. India will host the first MAITRI workshop in 2025.
Significantly, a maritime legal dialogue has been launched to support actions to uphold the rules-based order, the joint statement said.
Quad members condemned maritime aggression, with pointed references to situations involving China, which is currently embroiled in tensions with the Philippines, most recently over the latter’s coast guard presence on the Sabina shoal, 150 kms off its west coast.
The statement condemns the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, and opposes the disruption of other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities.
