• The four-nation grouping Quad announced a plan to expand its ambitious Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) programme to the Indian Ocean Region that would facilitate monitoring of the strategic waters.

• The announcement following a Quad foreign ministerial meeting came amid concerns over China’s growing forays into the Indian Ocean which is largely considered as the backyard of the Indian Navy.

• The Quad also said that it was working for early operationalisation of its South Asia programme through India’s Information Fusion Centre for the Indian Ocean Region.

• The meeting in Tokyo was attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Australia's Penny Wong.

Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA)

• The IPMDA was announced in May 2022 which allowed the partner countries to fully monitor the waters on their shores and help ensure peace and stability in the region.

• Under the initiative, data is being supplied to counter illicit maritime activities and respond to climate-related and humanitarian events.

• The Indian Navy established the IFC-IOR in 2018 to effectively keep track of the shipping traffic as well as other critical developments in the region under a collaborative framework with like-minded countries.

• It embodies what the Quad stands for catalysing joint efforts towards concrete results that help to make the region more stable and prosperous.

• This initiative will transform the ability of partners in the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean region to fully monitor the waters on their shores, and, in turn, uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific.

• It will offer a near-real-time, integrated, and cost-effective maritime domain awareness picture. This common operating picture will integrate three critical regions — the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean region — in the Indo-Pacific. 

• The benefits of this picture are vast. It will allow tracking of “dark shipping” and other tactical-level activities, such as rendezvous at sea, as well as improve partners’ ability to respond to climate and humanitarian events and to protect their fisheries, which are vital to many Indo-Pacific economies.

• IPMDA will harness commercially-available data using existing technologies. Through a combination of Automatic Identification System and radio-frequency technologies, Quad partners can provide an unprecedented “common thread” of activities. Because of its commercial origin, this data will be unclassified, allowing the Quad to provide it to a wide range of partners who wish to benefit.

It will extend support for information-sharing across existing regional fusion centers, such as:

• The Information Fusion Center-Indian Ocean Region, based in India.

• The Information Fusion Center, based in Singapore.

• The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, based in the Solomon Islands.

• The Pacific Fusion Center, based in Vanuatu.

• Quad partners will begin immediate consultations on this opportunity with partners in the region. 

• As the initiative proceeds, the Quad will identify future technologies of promise, allowing IPMDA to remain a cutting-edge partnership that promotes peace and stability throughout the region.

What is Quad?

• The Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is an informal grouping of four countries — Australia, India, Japan and the United States. 

• Established in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami to coordinate humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, the Quad has since become a leading regional partnership dedicated to advancing a common vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific through practical cooperation on diverse 21st-century challenges. 

• The foreign ministers of the four countries held their first meeting under the Quad framework in New York in September 2019.

• The first Leaders’ Summit of the Quad was held virtually in March 2021.

• The Quad recognises that international law, peace, and security in the maritime domain underpins the development and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific. 

• The countries are determined to deepen engagement with regional partners, including through capacity-building and technical assistance, to strengthen maritime domain awareness, protect their ability to develop offshore resources, consistent with  the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

• The Quad is exchanging information on ever-evolving threats and working with Indo-Pacific countries, and in multilateral fora, to counter all forms of terrorism and violent extremism.

• Quad partners champion the free, open, and inclusive rules-based order, rooted in international law, that protects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of regional countries.

• The Quad has been focusing on cooperation in areas such as producing vaccines, connectivity projects, facilitating the mobility of students and looking at promoting startups and technology collaboration. 

Opportunities for India under the Quad arrangement

Countering China:

The maritime domain is crucial for China, as a significant portion of its trade passes through Indian Ocean routes and strategic chokepoints. In case of Chinese aggression on the borders, India, in collaboration with Quad countries, can potentially disrupt Chinese maritime trade. Unlike the challenging continental scenario due to China-Pakistan collusion, the maritime sphere offers India opportunities for coalition building, rule-setting, and strategic exploration. 

Emerging as a net security provider:

The maritime domain has attracted increased attention from great powers, especially with the advent of the 'Indo-Pacific' concept, with several European countries recently unveiling their Indo-Pacific strategies. India’s central location in the Indo-Pacific geopolitical landscape enables it to envision a ‘broader Asia’ extending its influence beyond geographical confines. 

India can foster collective actions in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, monitor shipping for search and rescue or anti-piracy operations, provide infrastructure assistance to climate-vulnerable states, and initiate connectivity projects. Partnering with Quad countries allows India to counter China's imperialist policies in the Indian Ocean region, ensuring security and growth for all. 

Issues related to Quad:

• Undefined Vision: Despite the potential for cooperation, the Quad lacks a clearly defined strategic mission.

• Maritime Dominated: The Quad’s focus on the Indo-Pacific emphasizes maritime cooperation, raising questions about its relevance to the Asia-Pacific and Eurasian regions.

• India’s Aversion to Alliance Systems: India’s reluctance towards a treaty alliance system has slowed the progress of a stronger Quadrilateral engagement.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)