The Quad and the Global Commons
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Date
2023-01-03
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Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
In March 2021, the Quad began gathering the leaders of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia, under the request of President Joe Biden. The Spirit of the Quad, which was issued at that summit, stated the following: “We commit to promoting a free, open rules-based order, rooted in international law to advance security and competence and counter threats in the Indo-Pacific.” Hence, the Quad is a framework for safeguarding Indo-Pacific security against China’s authoritarian expansionism. However, the Quad is, unfortunately, not fully understood for its strategic significance or effectiveness. So, why and how did the United States, Japan, India, and Australia originate, support, and shape the Quad? In this thesis, “The Quad and the Global Commons,” I studied the essence of the Quad from the perspective of energy security under a military framework and then followed how countries were led to the Quad, both in terms of international relations and national politics.
The Quad calls for security cooperation ranging from military to critical technology, climate change, and COVID-19 countermeasures. Among them, military security is the most important aspect of this framework. I viewed the Quad as a maritime security framework that collectively protects the vast Indo-Pacific.
I approached the core security challenges of the Indo-Pacific from an energy perspective. China has continued to increase its energy demand due to rapid economic growth. That demand is supported by energy sea lanes stretching from the Persian Gulf, the largest oil-producing region, to the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca, the South China Sea, and the East China Sea. Until now, however, these sea lanes have been protected by the world’s largest U.S. Navy, with Japan as the largest user. However, China has expanded its military and economic influence in these sea lanes for energy security, resulting in an emerging military competition for energy throughout the Indo-Pacific. Who rules the energy sea lanes can control the energy of others and govern the continuity of economic and military forces.
From a military perspective, the Quad can be understood as a strategy to deter Xi Jinping’s increasingly authoritarian expansionist China by dominating the energy sea lanes running through the Indo-Pacific.
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Keywords
The Quad, Indo-Pacific, Maritime Security