The Quad's Potential to Stand Against China.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Editor's Notes

* On March 12, members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue--the United States, Japan, Australia and India--held a virtual meeting and released a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to "a region that is free, open, inclusive, healthy, anchored by democratic values, and unconstrained by coercion.'

At last, some good news when it comes to the rivalry with China.

The Quad is just what it says--four nations with mutual interests--gathering to discuss ways they can serve as a bulwark against China's aspirations to be the sole Asian superpower and spread its repression beyond its borders.

It has already held one joint naval exercise and will no doubt organize more.

The quad's joint statement also declared it would "launch a critical- and emerging-technology working group to facilitate cooperation on international standards and innovative technologies of the future."

The Quad could be much more than a military alliance.

In the January 2020 issue of National Defense, this column called for a technology alliance between the United States, Australia and Japan. It followed the magazine's first reporting trip to Australia to cover the Australian Air Show and--later in the year--the first trip to Japan in more than 10 years to cover the inaugural DSEI Japan defense trade show.

The trip to Australia revealed a nation highly motivated to boost the capacity of its domestic industrial base, and one that can punch above its weight in providing military technology that can serve as a counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific region.

It was at that show where the Royal Australian Air Force and Boeing revealed their intentions to develop an indigenous, fully autonomous jet fighter. Since that announcement, the program has made great progress, carrying out its first test flight one year after the announcement.

The DSEI show in Japan a few decades ago might have been inconceivable as anti-militarism was enshrined in the country's constitution and laws after World War II. But the kid gloves are beginning to come off as China continues to poke Japan in the eye. That's probably a bad move on China's part.

In April, Japan and the United States agreed to pool their resources and work together to counter China's dominance in 5G technology.

The world was caught sleeping when China cornered the fifth-gen market. All indications show that won't be the case for the sixth-generation wireless networks. U.S corporations are already coalescing to take on China for...