Quad launches Indo-Pacific energy initiative amid West Asia conflict

Most of the initiatives launched by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his counterparts – Australia’s Penny Wong, Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – were aimed at countering China’s assertive actions in the Indo-Pacific and its dominance in sectors such as infrastructure and telecom. Although this was the third Tractor There has been no official statement on when the next summit of leaders will be called, after the meeting of foreign ministers since September 2024.

According to a factsheet, the new Quad initiative on Indo-Pacific energy security proposed by the US will strengthen regional energy resilience and the grouping’s members will leverage their energy resources and capabilities to cooperate in areas such as technology, management and emergency response.

It will also include steps to help countries in the region build strategic oil reserves.

Also read: Eye on China, India and US concludes critical minerals and rare earth framework

Rubio said the US Department of Energy will host Quad partners later this year for a fuel security forum to expand the initiative.

Motegi said Japan wanted to partner in the initiative with its own “Power Asia” (Wide Partnership on Energy and Resources Resilience Asia), a cooperation framework for purchasing crude oil and petroleum products.

The group also unveiled its first joint infrastructure project, a port in Fiji.

“In response to inadequate port capacity in the Pacific Islands, we are announcing plans to work with Fiji to advance that country’s port infrastructure,” Rubio said, adding that this is the first time that Quad members will work together on a project that can serve as a model.

Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Toshihiro Kitamura stressed the US’s commitment to the Quad at a news briefing and pointed to President Donald Trump’s eagerness to continue cooperation within the group. Responding to a question about holding the next Quad Leaders’ summit, he said, “The date has not been decided yet. So, we do not have any fixed date for the next summit.”

A joint statement issued after the foreign ministers’ meeting only mentioned the holding of the next Quad summit without specifying a location or date, and Australian Foreign Minister Wong, responding to a question at a separate news briefing about Trump’s recent visit to China, said the grouping is about “strategic stability.”

Wong said the Quad countries are democracies working together for stability, peace and openness.

Also read:On anti-India rhetoric controversy, Rubio says Donald Trump is a ‘big fan’ of PM Modi

He said, “The world wants the two great powers of America and China to work together to ensure that they can co-exist peacefully and…manage their differences, and so dialogue is a good thing.”

The US has demonstrated its commitment to the Quad and this “will continue in the context of the leaders’ summit”, he said. “Obviously, it depends on the availability of the leaders, but we look forward to it,” Wong said.

The four Quad member countries sought to inject new energy into the grouping, which had lost momentum last year following tensions in India-US relations over the Trump administration’s trade policies, including 50% tariffs on Indian goods.

Much of this was in the form of expansion of existing Quad initiatives for maritime domain awareness, cooperation in critical minerals, support for undersea cable connectivity in the Pacific Islands, and secure 4G and 5G connectivity in the Indo-Pacific.

Jaishankar said at a joint media interaction that apart from focusing on secure and unhindered maritime commerce, as market economies the Quad members believe that economic resilience should be promoted, supply chains should be strengthened and production capacities should be enhanced.

“Our discussions also covered current energy and fertilizer availability as well as critical minerals and resources,” he said.

According to the joint statement, while Quad’s Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) is already in place and India is piloting the Indian Ocean phase of this program through its Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region in Gurugram, the grouping will “strengthen the coordination of maritime surveillance efforts, initially in the Indian Ocean region, through the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Cooperation (IPMSC)”.

The IPMSC, which will leverage maritime surveillance by the four countries and enhance information-sharing, will enhance the IPMDA by enabling Quad partners to “share real-time information and provide an enhanced picture of vessels in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

India will also host the second edition of the Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission to strengthen interoperability and knowledge-sharing to address illegal maritime activities.

The Quad also unveiled a new framework to advance its critical minerals initiative, which was announced in July 2025. This framework will help Quad states to leverage economic policy instruments and coordinate investments to strengthen critical mineral supply chains, including mining, processing and recycling.

The development is significant as both India and Japan were hit last year by China’s restrictions on exports of rare earths that are vital to the aerospace, defense and semiconductor industries.

China has since eased some of those restrictions but India and Japan share concerns over Beijing’s dominance of critical mineral supplies and value chains.

The Quad states pledged to expand flexible connectivity in the Indo-Pacific in view of the increasing risks to undersea cable networks. In this context, they have provided assistance to ensure that all Pacific Island Forum countries are connected through undersea cables by 2026.

Quad members also noted progress under the Quad Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) cooperation with Palau, which resulted in the selection of reliable suppliers in February this year.

The Quad states will next cooperate on “Next-Gen Communication Standards”, which will mainly focus on promoting cooperation in telecommunications and open RAN technical standards for the development of 6G standards.

The joint statement condemned cross-border terrorism and all forms of terrorism, including “the horrific terrorist attacks in Pahalgam, India on 22 April 2025 and Bondi Beach, Australia on 14 December 2025” and called for decisive and sustained global efforts to combat terrorism. This should include action against globally banned terrorists and entities, sponsors and financiers.

The Foreign Ministers discussed the situation in West Asia and supported diplomatic efforts for lasting peace. They stressed the importance of adhering to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the context of freedom of navigation and the unimpeded flow of global commerce through the Strait of Hormuz, condemned attacks on commercial vessels and opposed any measures such as the imposition of tolls.

The Quad foreign ministers also expressed grave concern over the situation in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, without directly referring to China’s actions, and opposed “any destabilizing or unilateral actions, including force or coercion, that threaten peace and stability.”

They also expressed concern over “dangerous and forceful actions”, including dangerous maneuvers by military aircraft and coast guard vessels, particularly the use of water cannons and ramming or blocking actions.

China responded to these developments by saying that cooperation between countries should contribute to regional peace and stability rather than targeting a third party.

“We also do not support the formation of elite factions or block confrontation. Any cooperation should not undermine mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a daily press conference.