Context

Recently, a new four-way security arrangement to launch SQUAD  in the Indo-Pacific was institutionalized.

• The Defense Ministers of the USA met his counterparts from  Australia, Philippines and Japan  to launch the ‘Squad’ to outline their collective vision for peace, stability, and deterrence in the region.

The Squad

• It  is a quadrilateral  grouping comprising the 4 Indo Pacific Nations of  USA, Australia, Philippines and Japan 
• Security ‘mini-lateral’ groupings in the Indo-Pacific: The SQUAD has become the recent addition to the series of such mini-lateral security groups in the Indo Pacific region.
  • Example: Quad, Aukus, the US-Philippines-Japan trilateral and the US-Japan-South Korea trilateral.

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• Prime Objective: The objective is to deepen the level of integration amongst themselves and counter the hegemonic tendencies of China in militarizing the South China Sea threatening the rules-based order of the Indo-Pacific.
• Origin: The idea of an informal grouping of the 4 nations in an effort to enhance their strategic collaboration in the South China Sea has been on the table since 2023.
  • 2023: The  Defense chiefs of all four countries met for the first time on the sidelines of the Shangri La security dialogue in Singapore. 
• Collaboration:
  • April 2024: The USA, Japan, the Philippines and Australia conducted their first-ever multilateral maritime exercise in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
  • Each of these countries shares a bilateral treaty alliance with the USA but the Philippines, Japan and Australia are not treaty allies at present.
  • Existing collaboration: The Philippines is currently negotiating a reciprocal access agreement (RAA) with Japan to enhance troop deployments between both countries complementing the existing Visiting Forces of Agreement (VFA) with the US and the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Australia.
• Significance: 
  • Capacity Building: The 4 nations will bring together a wide range of resources and capabilities with Australia and Japan providing  substantial naval and defense resources and Philippines’ with its marine capabilities.
  • Role of the Philippines: Philippines will play the central  role with respect to its strategic location  in Southeast Asia, and  has positioned itself as the Squad’s fulcrum.
    • The Philippines has been propelled into a central role in the broader  US strategy of “integrated deterrence” in the region.
  • Indo Pacific Security: The alliance plans to enhance military interoperability, conduct additional joint patrols and drills, and improve intelligence and maritime security cooperation in the region.
  • Encourage Strategic Convergence: The Squad, AUKUS, and QUAD are important components of a new security architecture  fostering  cooperation on a variety of security and defense challenges, by bringing together states with complementary capabilities and objectives.
    • Example: The External Affairs Minister (EAM) of India visited the Philippines in the background of heightened tensions between the Philippines and Chinese naval forces.
  • Connect with Regional Players: These informal coalitions aim to connect with a wider range of regional players e.g. ASEAN, improving  communication and convergence  supplementing current international frameworks, rather than being exclusive. 

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