Democracy, value system common bonds among Quad members, says Vishnu Prakash

New Delhi [India], June 19 (ANI): The common bond among the Quad countries is a democracy, value system and similar challenges they face and the “nascent organisation” is running instead of walking, former ambassador Vishnu Prakash said on Saturday.

Participating in the inaugural event of ‘Global Policy Insights’ QUAD Forum, Vishnu Prakash, former ambassador to South Korea and Canada, said Quad has generated a lot of excitement in most capitals and notable apprehensions in a few.

“Quad is a nascent organisation. It is barely learned to walk and instead of walking, it is running. The common bond among the Quad countries is a democracy, value system and similar challenges,” he said.

Speaking at the event, which was held virtually, Melissa Conley Tyler, Research Associate in the Asia Institute of The University of Melbourne, said Canberra’s view on Beijing is now quite bipartisan.

She said the ties between the two countries are “very bad” and there is no sign of it changing dramatically.

“Australian view on China is now quite bipartisan. It’s one of competition heading towards adversarial relationships. The relationship with China is a very bad one at the moment for Australia, And there is no sign of it changing dramatically,” she said.

“I think if in next elections there is a change in government then there could be a change in style. But I don’t see a major change in the policy setting,” she added.

She also spoke of fostering partnerships with India.

“We already have an alliance relationship with the US, Japan has an alliance relationship with the US. Japan and Australia have 2+2 dialogue and strategic dialogue. The missing link is India. Quad is a mechanism to bring India into the fold to try to build a consensus. It is an alternative to an alliance because India would not go far at this point,” she added.

Participating in the event, Arpit Chaturvedi, Director and Co-Chair, GPI QUAD Forum, said Quad members should build a positive common goal.

“China is the common goal for Quad. But History is evident that as soon as the threat of common enemy is gone the grouping breaks away. We must develop more superordinate common goals which could be rule-based order. We should build a positive common goal,” he added.

Andi NS Kuncoro, an economist and speechwriter for the Office of Finance Minister, Indonesia, said there will be opportunities and risk exposed by escalating tensions between Quad and a power-assertive China.

Justin Hartley, co-chair, GPI QUAD Forum, Country Head (Australia and New Zealand) Centre for Asia Leadership, said Quad is an initiative that is clearly evolving.

“I think it is important to think about how you can expand the benefit that it offers. In one area where we can potentially look at is social policy and how that can be shared among countries,” he said.

“Quad can be a leader in sharing these policy initiatives, policy transfers and learning from each other. That boils down to regular communication, sharing the best practices between governments, and strengthening the region through economic growth and prosperity of its citizens,” he said.

Tomohiko Taniguchi, a former Special Advisor to Japan former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was the keynote speaker at the event. His remarks were followed by a question and answer session with Vishnu Prakash.

Thomas Hart Armbruster, former United States Ambassador to the Republic of Marshall Islands, delivered a special address.

Dr Shashank Shekhar Shukla, economist and political analyst and Dr Satoru Nagao, co-Chair, GPI QUAD Forum also took part in the event.

The QUAD Forum is an initiative of Global Policy Insights, a centrist policy institute, aimed at fostering dialogue and understanding around the Quad grouping of nations comprising of the United States, India, Japan and Australia.

The first Leaders’ Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework was held virtually in March this year. (ANI)