At a virtual press conference on June 30, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio underlined the need to deliver tangible outcomes from the Quad security arrangement. This announcement came ahead of the next Quad foreign ministers meeting, scheduled for July 1 in Washington. Rubio was quite clear that now we need to really get the Quad moving, well past talk. He was then joined by Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya.
Rubio called for the Quad—the United States, India, Australia, and Japan—to become more action-oriented. He reiterated that this is the moment for this shift to happen. He voiced frustrations that past meetings have dwelled on the theory rather than the future practical implementation of concrete action steps. The Secretary of State called for a change of direction. He stressed the importance of focusing on tangible outcomes in areas of mutual and key interest to Quad members.
The Quad was first formed to strengthen member nations’ security and cooperation within the Indo-Pacific region. These remarks indicate that Rubio is indeed interested in increasing bipartisan cooperation on critical issues. He narrowly zeroes in on critical minerals, minerals that are essential to technology and defense industries. By taking this priority point head on, he recognized the need to secure supply chains and mitigate our dependence on hostile nations.
Rubio, Jaishankar, Wong, and Iwaya to talk about strengthening the Quad. They want to be able to show that they have passed initiatives that produce measurable progress under the Quad framework. Areas of emphasis will no doubt include increasing cooperation on regional security initiatives and building joint political-military responses to new and intensified threats.
In recent years, these four countries have increased their dialogue to a new level. What binds them together is their mutual concern about greater stability and security challenges from China in the region. Rubio’s call to action is a reflection of an important and growing sentiment among the Quad’s leaders. They know that it takes more than just words to build the collaboration that will bring concrete, tangible improvements to their countries.