Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Tuesday, 26 May 2026
The Quad grouping on Tuesday expanded cooperation in critical minerals and energy while unveiling new measures to boost maritime surveillance and port infrastructure across the Indo-Pacific against the backdrop of China's growing military posturing in the region.
The new measures were announced following a meeting of the grouping's foreign ministers in New Delhi. The meeting was chaired by external affairs minister S Jaishankar and attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong and Japanese foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi.
In his media statement, Jaishankar announced a critical minerals framework and an Indo-Pacific energy security initiative under the broader Quad agenda to confront major challenges facing the region.
"Much of the discussions and indeed the bilateral exchanges were devoted to the current state of the world," Jaishankar said at the end of the meeting.
Naturally, the focus of the deliberations was on issues of relevance to the Indo-Pacific, he said.
"Because we are four maritime democracies located at different ends of the Indo-Pacific, the exchange of perspectives was an exercise of considerable value."
"We spent some time on the question of safe and unimpeded maritime commerce and reaffirmed the significance of scrupulously observing international law," the minister said.
Jaishankar said a free and open Indo-Pacific has many dimensions and facets, and the Quad meeting took stock of the progress in many of them.
We believe strongly that economic resilience should be promoted and supply chains should be strengthened, he noted, adding that the deliberations also touched upon current energy and fertiliser availability and that of critical minerals.
"In the coming days, whether it is economic activity, energy trade or maritime commerce, the Indo-Pacific will become even more important to the world. The responsibilities of the Quad will grow commensurately, and we must prepare for that," he said.
Countering the common threat of terrorism also figured in the talks, the external affairs minister said.
"There must be zero tolerance for terrorism, and nations subject to terrorist attacks have the right to defend themselves," he said.
Rubio also mentioned the US-backed Pax Silica initiative.
"The groundwork was laid for this on February 4 when you joined us at the Critical Minerals Forum that we hosted in Washington DC," he said, adding it gained momentum after India signed on to Pax Silica.
"Today, because we both have a strategic and shared interest in the fact that vibrant innovation economies such as ours cannot afford to leave the foundational materials of these industries vulnerable to single source monopoly that could deny us these things, not just in a time of conflict, but as a leverage point contrary to our sovereign national interests," he said.
"I'm glad we were able to sign this because in addition to being an important document and important agreement, it brings a tangible example of the strategic partnership between the US and India," he said.
The Pax Silica initiative was launched in December to build a secure, resilient, and innovation-driven supply chain for critical minerals and artificial intelligence (AI).
In his media statement, US Secretary of State Rubio also included that the Quad meeting decided to launch an Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Cooperation Initiative.
It will leverage each of our country's maritime surveillance capabilities in the Indo-Pacific, he said.
Rubio also announced the expansion of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative among the Quad nations.
The US Secretary of State also said the Quad has decided to roll out a new initiative to boost port infrastructure in the Pacific Islands.
"The reason why maritime security is so important, beyond the fact that current events remind us of what can happen when maritime security is impeded, is the fact that 60 per cent of global maritime trade passes through the Indo-Pacific," Rubio said.
He argued that it is a vital national interest not just to the four Quad countries, but to countless countries around the world.
"The second initiative: we're going to be partnering on issues of port infrastructure, in response to insufficient port capacities in the Pacific Islands," he said.
"We're announcing plans to work with Fiji to advance that country's port infrastructure. It'll be the first time that the Quad partners work together on a port infrastructure project," he said.
Australian foreign minister Wong said the Quad recognised efforts towards a diplomatic resolution to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
"We recognised the importance of maintaining the principle of freedom of navigation and our opposition to any tolling proposition," she said, referring to Iran's plan to demand fees for transiting the Strait.
We are working together to strengthen cooperation against scam centres, particularly in Southeast Asia, Wong said.
The Australian foreign minister said the Quad will be coordinating on maritime surveillance efforts initially in the Indian Ocean.
Tokyo is especially eager to diversify its supplies of critical minerals after Beijing stopped shipments of some materials used in aerospace, defence and chip-making industries to Japan following a diplomatic dispute.
The closure by Tehran of the crucial waterway has upended energy markets and disrupted the global economy, an issue that is likely to feature prominently in Quad discussions.
Previous Quad meetings have put forward initiatives to maintain "the free and open maritime order" in the Indo-Pacific by improving information gathering on what is happening in their waters.
Last week, a Japanese foreign ministry official said Japan expected the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran to be raised, along with tensions in the East China Sea and South China Sea, where China's heightened military presence in disputed waters has escalated tensions with Tokyo, the Philippines and other countries.
Beijing has criticised the Quad as a Cold War-style construct aimed at containing its development.
"We also do not support the formation of exclusive cliques or bloc confrontation. No cooperation should undermine mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries," China's foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, told a daily press conference.
