How Quad can become inclusive regional initiative

By Song Kyung-jin

History recalls that there were at least two Sept. 15ths in the early part of the 21st century on which extraordinary events happened: 2008 and 2021. On Sept. 15, 2008, the world economy witnessed the biggest-ever bankruptcy of an investment bank, Lehman Brothers. The need for China's cooperation to combat the Great Recession at that time eclipsed the needs of the Quad.

Exactly 13 years later, the launch of a security initiative around the Indo-Pacific, called the AUKUS (standing for "Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States") partnership, was announced. A week after the AUKUS partnership was forged, the first in-person Quad Leaders' Summit, its second summit, was held on Sept. 24 in Washington, D.C.

Immediately following the launch of AUKUS, China submitted its application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in a quid pro quo move, although there is currently little enthusiasm from the U.S. to rejoin it.

Now my head is spinning as I try to figure out what the Quad and AUKUS are meant for. Though Korea expressed its intention to join the CPTPP, it has not taken action in terms of submitting an application. This entire situation matters to me because it is happening around Korea, even though the Korean foreign minister stressed ― a little awkwardly ― at a Council on Foreign Relations event on Sept. 22 that Korea maintains a close relationship with each of the Quad members, and that it has not been asked to join the Quad.

Is the Quad destined to repeat its history of quickly waning after one or two meetings? If the Quad is to avoid fizzling out before too long, then it must reorient and repurpose itself, as well as show its relevance, usefulness and thus its raison d'etre. If the Quad is not a regional security organization and meant to be complementary to existing institutions, as officials in the Biden administration have claimed, it will not be such a herculean task to reorient its purpose, refocus its attention and become a pragmatic and result-oriented regional initiative.

The Quad already has a set of commitments from the two leaders' meetings as its operating principles. The second summit on Sept. 24 in Washington produced mostly non-military commitments. The Quad should take heed not to expand its commitments into too many, too fast, but to prioritize areas for building coalitions.

Today the top priority of the Quad leaders should be quickly delivering on their vaccine donation pledge. The world is still very much in the public health crisis and the biggest concern for any leader today is how to tackle and overcome the COVID-19 pandemic as quickly as possible. In their first meeting on March 12, they pledged to donate 1.2 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine globally by the end of 2022, in addition to their commitments to the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX).

By the second summit on Sept. 24, the Quad had donated only 79 million doses to the Indo-Pacific region. In this case, there is a big gap between their initial pledge and their actions to fulfill it. It was partly due to the COVID-19 explosion that India's vaccine production capacity declined, as export controls were put in place there in order to prioritize vaccinating the country's own residents. India is now expected to resume its role as a regional vaccine manufacturing hub. Delivering on the pledge is a relatively easy job to do, should there be a will.

At the summit last week, the leaders agreed to establish the Quad Infrastructure Coordination Group with the goals of assessing infrastructure needs and coordinating respective approaches in order to provide transparent, high-quality infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific. This Infrastructure Group is open to regional partners. There are bilateral, trilateral and plurilateral infrastructure projects under way in the region.

Taking into account the region's vast needs for infrastructure and the lack of resources, the Indo-Pacific would welcome the Quad leaders' commitments in concrete numbers as well as private sector participation. Perhaps the third summit will present concrete commitments built upon the work of the Infrastructure Coordination Group. Some of the projects could be adjusted and multilateralized for efficacy. Korea, with its economic weight, experienced companies for building infrastructure and increasing infrastructure investment in the Indo-Pacific, is likely to be invited to the Quad Infrastructure Group.

Despite the many initiatives agreed upon by the leaders, so far, little is known about the progress and outcome of each initiative. Korea, together with New Zealand and Vietnam, has been meeting with the Quad members to coordinate and cooperate regarding vaccine development and distribution. Should the Quad wish to be a pragmatic and relevant regional initiative, it needs first, to produce results, and second, to engage in better public communication in order to keep informing the region and the world of its work, as well as to improve the image it has of being a "purely military alliance."

Korea, an important regional and global smart power, should start thinking about joining the issue-specific activities of the Quad, as and when deemed necessary, and of building trust with its Indo-Pacific partners.

Dr. Song Kyung-jin (kj_song@hotmail.com) led the Institute for Global Economics (IGE), based in Seoul, and served as a special adviser to the chair of the Presidential Committee for the Seoul G20 Summit in the Office of the President. Now, she chairs an international cooperation committee called the Innovative Economy Forum.