Unveiling regional initiatives for energy security and critical minerals, Foreign Ministers of the Quad nations Tuesday agreed to launch an Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Corporation, expand maritime domain awareness and enhance port infrastructure in Fiji.
These moves by the Quad, comprising the US, India, Japan and Australia, come at a time when China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific are on the rise, and ongoing conflicts, most recently in West Asia, are disrupting supply chains and hurting economies.
In a clear message to Beijing, the Quad voiced serious concern about the situation in the East China Sea and the South China Sea and opposed “any destabilizing or unilateral actions” that would threaten “peace and stability” in the region.
Meeting at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi, the Quad Foreign Ministers – External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong – issued a joint statement which said, “We look forward to the convening of the Quad Leaders’ Summit, the next Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and continuing our engagements that advance peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.”
New Delhi is to host the next summit of the Quad leaders but there’s no word yet on when it will take place later this year, or if another country will play host – there has been a cloud of uncertainty ever since the slide in ties in 2025 between India and the US, and the US-China engagement which took President Donald Trump to Beijing earlier this month.
Rubio, on his part, described the Quad grouping as “a partnership of action” and said “we are deeply committed to this partnership. It is a linchpin and a cornerstone of our global strategy as a nation in the United States”
Jaishankar, who was chairing the meeting, said much of the discussions and the bilateral exchanges were devoted to the “current state of the world”.
Story continues below this ad
“We naturally focused on issues of particular relevance to the Indo-Pacific, because we are four maritime democracies located at different ends of the Indo-Pacific. The exchange of perspectives was an exercise of considerable value,” he said.
“The maritime domain has seen a steady expansion of collaboration, including surveillance and domain awareness, logistics network, undersea cables training capacity building and HADR activities. We will be continuing to deepen these areas in the times ahead,” he said.
“Our four nations are also market economies. We believe strongly that economic resilience should be promoted, that supply chain should be strengthened, trusted and secure technologies diffused, and production capacities enhanced”.
Hormuz crisis
Without mentioning the Strait of Hormuz, Jaishankar said, “We spent some time on the question of safe and unimpeded maritime commerce and reaffirmed the significance of scrupulously observing international law.”
Story continues below this ad
“Our deliberations touched on the current energy and fertilizer availability, as well as that of critical minerals and resources. The goal is to intensify cooperation among ourselves while also assisting others,” he said.
On energy and fuel security, Rubio said, “The Quad initiative on Indo-Pacific energy security will help strengthen regional energy resilience… The Department of Energy of the United States will be hosting Quad partners later this year for a fuel security forum to further expand on this.”
Wong said, “We recognize our obligation, our responsibility to provide real choices, particularly as strategic circumstances in our region are deteriorating. The region is facing acute economic stress. We know the world is more unpredictable. We know economic volatility is increasing, and we know the consequences for our region of the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and what that means for our energy security, for our economies and for our people.”
Motegi said, “The energy security initiative to secure a stable supply of energy in the Indo-Pacific region is a timely initiative. We would like to partner it with POWERR Asia, a cooperation framework for procurement of crude oil and petroleum products that Japan is promoting.”
Story continues below this ad
Maritime surveillance
On the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Corporation initiative, Rubio said it is going to “leverage each of our country’s maritime surveillance capabilities in the Indo-Pacific to enhance information sharing”.
Wong said, “We will be coordinating our maritime surveillance efforts, initially in the Indian Ocean and at Exercise Malabar, through the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration Initiative, and we are also expanding the Domain Awareness Initiative to the Indian Ocean. This will enable partners to access near real time unclassified satellite tracking data to combat illegal fishing trafficking, and also enable us to better support humanitarian disaster response.”
On the expansion of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative, Rubio said it “provides and can provide near real-time commercial maritime domain awareness data to countries throughout the Indo-Pacific”.
Underlining the importance of maritime security, he said that 60% of global maritime trade passes through the Indo-Pacific.
Story continues below this ad
The joint statement said, “We remain seriously concerned about the situation in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. We reiterate our strong opposition to any destabilizing or unilateral actions including by force or coercion that threaten peace and stability in the region. We express our serious concerns regarding dangerous and coercive actions, including interference with offshore resource development, the repeated obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight, and the dangerous manoeuvres by military aircraft and coast guard and maritime militia vessels, especially the unsafe use of water cannons and flares, and ramming or blocking actions in the South China Sea. We are seriously concerned by the militarization of disputed features.”
“Following the success of the first-ever Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission from Palau to Guam in July 2025, India will host the next edition of the Mission to strengthen interoperability and knowledge-sharing to best address unlawful maritime activities across the region,” it said.
Port infra in Fiji
Wong said, “We are today announcing the strongest ever commitment from the Quad to the Pacific through the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership, where we are launching a pilot for port infrastructure in Fiji… It’s a practical demonstration of our collective ability to deliver high-quality, resilient infrastructure in partnership with the region, and in response to Pacific priorities. In addition, we are focusing on what more we can do to assure a transparent, more secure maritime domain in the Indo-Pacific.”
Critical minerals
Rubio said the Quad Critical Minerals framework will guide each to “leverage economic policy tools and coordinate investment to strengthen critical mineral supply chains, including in mining and processing, and in critical minerals recycling”.
