This week on GeoPod, Tenjin Consulting's Alexander and Georgina Downer discuss the Quad or Quadrilateral Strategic Dialogue of Australia, India, Japan and the United States. 

The Quad leaders - Prime Ministers Scott Morrison, Narendra Modi and Yoshihide Suga and President Joe Biden - met for the first time on 12 March. This meeting is the single biggest foreign policy step that the US Administration has taken since it was inaugurated in January this year. And it's quite clear the meeting happened in response to China's aggressive and destabilising behavior over the last year.

But where did the Quad come from? It's an idea that has been brewing for years, and its precursor is the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue of Australia, Japan and the United States for which Alexander Downer claims paternity. 

Australia has a good record when it comes to developing regional architecture - Bob Hawke and the Koreans successfully proposed APEC in the 1980s, and the Howard Government made sure Australia was an inaugural member of the East Asia Summit. The Rudd Government's Asia Pacific Community fell flat, however.

So back to the Quad. The initiative rose and then fell in 2009 as Australia and India got cold feet in the face of Chinese criticism that it was an anti-China grouping. 

But now it seems, the Quad's time has come. The Quad leaders issued a Joint Statement which you can read here. The big takeout was the Quad Vaccine Partnership which will deliver Covid-19 vaccines to Southeast Asia and the Pacific as a counter to Beijing's vaccine diplomacy. The leaders also agreed to establish a Climate Working Group, and a Critical and Emerging Technologies Working Group to deal with supply chain issues. 

The fact that this meeting happened is significant enough, but watch this space for the momentum it will create and the coordinated actions of the members and other likemindeds over coming months and years to counter China's rise and aggression.