The Quad group, comprising India, Australia, Japan, and the US, seems to have softened its focus on security cooperation, but behind the scenes the collaboration on maritime security has accelerated, while bilateral and multilateral defence cooperation with the United States is rising, the latter said ahead of the scheduled meeting of leaders on Saturday in the US.
Each neighborhood in the region," Mira Rapp-Hooper, a senior official with the National Security Council, said Thursday at a news conference.
US President Joe Biden is for the first time hosting the Quad leaders meeting in Wilmington, his hometown. As Rapp-Hooper noted, this choice emphasizes that personally, the president is committed to the Quad. Beyond that, apart from the group meeting the Quad leaders, Biden will also meet bilaterally with the leaders.
Originally, the summit was to be held in India, but after scheduling conflicts, India and the US would flip positions. So, the US will host the summit this year, and India will take over the US' position next year.
"Young Rapp-Hooper, who is a high-ranking member on Biden's National Security Council, claimed that India "is a leader within the Quad".
"There is incredible defense cooperation between the US and Australia, US and Japan, US and India, increasingly among those countries themselves," Rapp-Hooper responded when asked if Quad nations should up security cooperation.
She further explained, "And the Quad, with a small Q, has a number of different other activities that we participate in, such as the annual Malabar exercise, which involves all four of our countries." Rapp-Hooper referred to this broader spectrum of cooperation among the Quad members to counter claims that the group has reduced its focus on security initiatives.
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