CDS (I) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 82 of 120

Correct — A, France. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue has four members and France is not one of them: they are India, the United States, Australia and Japan. The grouping was proposed by the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007, lapsed the following year when Australia withdrew, and was revived on the margins of the ASEAN meetings at Manila in 2017. Its first leaders' summit was held virtually on 24 March 2021, six weeks after this paper was set, and the four have met at leader level regularly since. France cooperates with India in the Indian Ocean through separate arrangements — a naval exercise of its own and a trilateral with India and Australia — which is what makes it a plausible-looking wrong answer.

• (b)USA — The United States is one of the four, and was represented by Vice-President Dick Cheney when the grouping was first floated in 2007.
• (c)Australia — Australia is a member. Its withdrawal in 2008 is what caused the first Quad to lapse, and its return is what completed the revival.
• (d)Japan — Japan is a member and the original proposer; Shinzo Abe's idea of an arc of democracies across the Indo-Pacific is where the grouping began.

The Quad is an informal grouping rather than an alliance — no treaty, no secretariat, no mutual defence obligation. Its working agenda has broadened well beyond security into vaccines, critical and emerging technology, climate, infrastructure and maritime domain awareness, and it has run Quad Plus consultations that have at various times included Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, South Korea and Vietnam. The military dimension is carried mostly by Exercise Malabar, which became a four-navy exercise in 2020.

Groupings acquire look-alike members in a candidate's memory, and France is the classic intruder here because it is genuinely an Indo-Pacific power with territory and forces in the region. Two habits help. First, count: the name says four, so a fifth country is by definition wrong. Second, remember the founding story — Abe proposed it, Australia walked out, Australia came back — which fixes three of the four members without any list-learning. Since the exam the grouping has become a summit-level body, with leaders meeting at Washington, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Wilmington, and India due to host.

• The Quad consists of India, the United States, Australia and Japan.
• It was proposed in 2007 by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with support from Australia, India and the United States, and lapsed in 2008 when Australia withdrew.
• It was revived on the sidelines of the ASEAN summits at Manila in 2017.
• The first leaders' summit was held virtually on 24 March 2021; later summits were held at Washington, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Wilmington.
• Quad Plus meetings have brought in Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, South Korea and Vietnam on particular issues.

• Adding France, or sometimes the United Kingdom, to the Quad because both operate in the Indo-Pacific.
• Treating the Quad as a military alliance with a mutual defence clause; it has neither treaty nor secretariat.
• Confusing the Quad with the so-called West Asian Quad of India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

As a which-country-is-not-a-member item, or as a statements question on the Quad's origin, revival and agenda.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue was originally proposed in 2007 by the Prime Minister of which country?

  • (a)Australia
  • (b)India
  • (c)Japan
  • (d)United States

  Answer(c) Japan — Shinzo Abe floated the idea, and Australia's withdrawal the following year caused the first grouping to lapse.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following best describes the Quad?

  • (a)A collective defence alliance with a mutual assistance clause
  • (b)An informal grouping with no treaty or permanent secretariat
  • (c)A specialised agency of the United Nations
  • (d)A free trade agreement among four economies

  Answer(b) An informal grouping with no treaty or permanent secretariat — its agenda now runs from maritime security to vaccines and technology.