BLUF

Institutions like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) need to be expanded to counter international terrorism and regional pressure from authoritarian regimes like Russia and China.

Summary

Regarding the Indo-Pacific strategic outlook after the US and its allies withdrawal from Afghanistan, this article makes the following points:

China’s coercive military, political, diplomatic and economic policies have also been ongoing and continue to complicate the democratic will by dislocating US-led power in the Indo-Pacific region.

For Australia and others, threats posed by Chinese aggression pose grave challenges. 

Among other things, efforts to trace the origins of the Covid-19 virus from Wuhan in China have increased tensions between Beijing and Western powers.

At the same time, a surge in Islamist terror attacks worldwide is predicted following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

Democracies and their allies are well placed to push back against bullies and extremists. 

Democracies need to muster the will to expand the strategic institutions already in place, such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) 

The Quad needs more extensive and better-focused defence capabilities to be able to respond to China’s threats and actions.

Forging an expanded Quad will be difficult, but the longer it is left, the more difficult it could become.

Learn more about the argument that it might now be time to increase the capabilities of the QUAD.

References

Mar 2021 The Diplomat The Quad: What It Is – And What It Is Not

Mar 2021 pm.gov.au Quad Leaders' Joint Statement: 'The Spirit Of The Quad'

May 2021 CFR The Quad in the Indo-Pacific: What to Know

Aug 2021 ASPI The Five Power Defence Arrangements: time for the ‘quiet achiever’ to emerge