Japan and the development of quadrilateral cooperation

Abstract

The Australia-India-Japan-United States consultation group, the so-called “Quad,” has been one of the most important minilateral frameworks that Japan has engaged since the early 2000s. In fact, as the US-China strategic competition intensifies, the Quad have been rapidly institutionalized as shown in two summit meetings that were held in March and September 2021 and instituted several working groups, focusing on potentially vital strategic fields, such as climate crisis, COVID-19, emerging and critical technologies, infrastructure, and cyber security. The Quad members also reached out to other states for policy coordination in a specific issue area as shown in two COVID-19 with external states, including New Zealand, Vietnam, Brazil, Israel and South Korea, the so-called “Quad-Plus.