‘Quad’ Nations to Launch Joint Coast Guard Operations Across Indo-Pacific
The US, Japan, India, and Australia, known as “the Quad” nations, have pledged to launch joint coast guard patrols in the Indo-Pacific region by 2025.
Formally known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the Quad was established in 2007 to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region based on the rule of international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The plan for joint patrols to monitor illegal fishing activities is its first-ever “Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission” aimed at improved interoperability and maritime safety.
It is the latest addition to the Quad’s present initiatives, such as the 2022 Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness, which boosts monitoring activities in their exclusive economic zones across Southeast Asia to the Indian Ocean.
Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission
Locations for the future mission were not specified, but some experts shared with Japan Times that operations may begin in the South and East China Seas due to ongoing territorial and maritime disputes between China and the Quad countries.
Ritsumeikan University professor and international relations expert Miwa Hirono pointed out that the presence of foreign fishing vessels “raises the question of sovereignty over each country’s economic exclusion zone, especially in the South China Sea.”
Hirono also highlighted the alleged tactics of Chinese civilian fishing fleets that operate in a gray area between peace and conflict, but do not amount to armed attacks.
MIT’s Center for International Studies principal research scientist Eric Heginbotham added that while other countries are also involved in illegal fishing, “these combined (Quad) coast guard activities will highlight to China and the world that neither the South China Sea nor other ocean areas in the Indo-Pacific are China’s playground, where its fishing fleets can act with impunity.”
Australian Strategic Policy Institute geopolitics expert Raji Pillai Rajagopalan said that this mission reflects the shift towards greater cooperation, regardless of where it will be conducted.
Quad vs China
Beijing sees the Quad as an effort to contain China and maintain US hegemony.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that “the US kept saying that the summit did not target China, but China was the first topic of the summit.”
It did not help that during the Quad meeting, US President Joe Biden was caught on a hot mic saying how “China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region,” to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian PM Narendra Modi, and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida.
Their Joint Declaration mentioned how the Quad countries are “seriously concerned” about the militarization of disputed areas and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the East and South China Seas.
“We condemn the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, including increasing use of dangerous maneuvers,” they stated.
This maritime security enhancement cooperation is one of the key areas — including climate, health, critical and emerging technologies, and space — shared among Quad members in their fourth Quad Leaders’ Summit in Delaware on September 21, 2024.
