What is the point of the Quad?

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY in Asia is revving up. Last week President Joe Biden announced a new pact with Australia and Britain, AUKUS, to help Australia build nuclear-powered submarines. And on September 24th the leaders of America, Australia, India and Japan will gather in Washington, DC, for the first in-person meeting of another grouping, the “Quad”. Although its leaders have never sat down together, the group can trace its roots back to joint disaster relief after the Asian tsunami almost 17 years ago. Its communiqués talk of securing a “free, open, prosperous, rules-based and inclusive Indo-Pacific”. But what really unites the four countries is the spectre of China and its growing muscle. What is the Quad, and what does it want to achieve?