The Quad Club.

• Author: Hanson, Nicholas

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has caused cataclysmic disruptions in the global order and severely tested the ability of national governments to cope with this seemingly unstoppable and deadly enemy. The pandemic has subtly, but overwhelmingly, reinforced the notion that great power competition in the international system will continue to dominate geopolitics long after the virus subsides, and the world returns to a new state of normalcy. China's brazen attempts to capitalize on the resulting chaos have deepened some fault lines and exposed others. Rather than pushing the world's two largest economies into a unified front to fight the virus bilaterally or via a larger grouping such as the G20, the pandemic has further intensified an already tense relationship between the United States and China. Richard Fontaine highlighted this new dynamic in Foreign Policy: "COVID-19 is becoming one more feature of great-power competition, rather than an exception to it."

Even seemingly ironclad areas of symbiosis in the bilateral relationship have been characterized by a zero-sum mentality. Reported attempts by Chinese cyber actors to hack American research centers and pharmaceutical companies in an attempt to speed up domestic coronavirus vaccine development are only the latest salvo in the increasingly tense conflict. This new phase of contention led historian Niall Ferguson to double down on previous characterizations of the relationship as Cold War II. The implications of failing to counter Chinese aggression were recently underscored by retired general and former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster:

The party has no intention of playing by the rules associated with international law, trade, or commerce... Without effective pushback from the United States and like-minded nations, China will become even more aggressive in promoting its statist economy and authoritarian political model. Coronavirus may have weakened China's soft power, but it has assuredly not reduced its desires for regional, and eventually, global hegemony. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used its extensive domestic manufacturing capacity to expott goodwill in the form of essential ventilators and personal protective equipment. From Latin America to Eastern Europe, China has worked to flip the narrative that, rather than the source, it is the world's savior from the virus. These tactics ate part of a broader strategy designed to exploit a perceived void in American global leadership.

Beijing's attempt to turn the crisis into a geopolitical windfall has significant implications beyond Sino-U.S. relations. From New Delhi, Canberra, and Tokyo, the region's most influential democracies are scrambling to deal with the social, economic, and political impacts of the virus. As China moves incessantly toward hegemony, these liberal democracies must band together to check the CCP'S repressive and totalitarian vision for the Indo-Pacific region.

The Trump administration announced its grand strategy to meet the China challenge in November 2017 as a "free and open Indo-Pacific." A November 2019 report from the State Department outlined the steps America will take in support of this strategy, and specifically highlighted how India, Australia, Japan, and the United States "elevated their Quadrilateral Consultation to the ministerial level in September 2019." While this move is timely, the Quad must move beyond dialogue to security cooperation. Whether it remains Donald Trump, or transitions to Joe Biden, the next U.S. president needs to operationalize this vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific by bolstering America's commitment to the region--the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is the best place to start. We recommend this pledge include a name change to the Indo-Pacific Security Pact (IPSP) codified with a charter and grounded upon securing an Indo-Pacific that is free, fair, peaceful, and prosperous and buttressed by security cooperation and military exercises.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue represents an essential and timely convergence of both national values and strategic interests. Based on geography alone, the Quad aligns allies and partners in vastly distant areas of the Indo-Pacific region who are all simultaneously under pressure from an expansive and increasingly aggressive People's Republic of China (PRC). Geography aside, the Quad nations share a commitment to democratic principles, individual freedom, and governmental transparency. Thus, the Quad represents the rarest coalition of partners--nations aligned by interests, political values, and adherence to international rules and norms that are physically arrayed to counter the sprawling Chinese threat. As the State Department report acknowledges, the Trump administration's vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific is very closely aligned with similar strategies being pursued by India, Australia, and Japan. While these approaches do not name Beijing as the impetus, countering growing Chinese influence is the clear goal.

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, each member of the Quad had separate and distinct flashpoints in its relationship with China. Chinese inroads into both Sri Lanka and the Maldives via the Belt and Road Initiative and a renewed...