The Quad says it’s a ‘positive alternative’ to China. What can it deliver for Asia?

The US-led security grouping won’t be able to supplant the economic clout of the region’s top trading partner, analysts say

But the Quad could rival the ‘Sino-centric system in Asia’ by offering supply chain diversification and an alternative for infrastructure support

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks as Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar look on at the Quad foreign ministers’ panel discussion in New Delhi on March 3. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:30am, 12 Mar 2023Updated: 8:47am, 12 Mar 2023

The Quad’s top diplomats made clear this month that they view their four-way security grouping as a “positive alternative” to China, whose influence in the region they also expressed growing unease about.

“Our proposition is not to say to countries in the region: ‘you have to choose,’” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on March 3 in a panel discussion with the foreign ministers of Australia, India and Japan at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi. “Our proposition is to offer a choice, a positive alternative.”

The ministers went on to say that they viewed with concern Chinese challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China Seas, and they opposed any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the region.

A Chinese vessel departs for a joint naval exercise with Russia in December. Quad foreign ministers said they viewed with concern Chinese challenges to the maritime rules-based order. Photo: Xinhua

Analysts say the Quad could offer a viable alternative for Asia in terms of infrastructure support and supply chain diversification, but called it unrealistic for the four nations to supplant China’s economic heft – despite being the first, third, fifth and 13th largest economies in the world.

China remains the top trading partner for much of Asia, where many nations have long said they do not wish to take sides in the growing geopolitical contest between Beijing and Washington and its allies.

Critics say a lack of economic engagement has long been a major weakness of the US’ approach to the region.

“The Quad is not an alternative to China, but it can provide some alternatives in particular areas,” said Kei Koga, an associate professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University whose research focuses on security in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific. This includes reducing regional states’ “risk of overdependence on China”.