The Quadrilateral partnership consisting of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States intends to expand the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) into the Indian Ocean Region, the Foreign Ministers of the four member countries announced on Monday in Tokyo. Addressing the meeting, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar said the four members of the Quad grouping are democracies that are working as a “powerful stabilizing factor.” The Ministers also called for immediate cessation of violence in Ukraine, Gaza, and Myanmar.
“We continue to work with the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency to enhance regional maritime domain awareness in the Pacific through satellite data, training and capacity building. In line with such efforts, we intend to geographically expand the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) to the Indian Ocean region,” a joint statement issued after the meeting declared. The IPMDA is aimed at ensuring safety and security of the critical sea lanes. In an interview with The Hindu in October 2023, the previous Indian Navy chief Admiral Hari Kumar had described the IPMDA as a “comprehensive system for monitoring and securing maritime activities in the Indo-Pacific.”
Indicating growing concern about China’s maritime activities in the South China Sea, the meeting emphasised “the importance of maintaining and upholding freedom of navigation and overflight, other lawful uses of sea, and unimpeded commerce consistent with international law”.
Monday’s meeting in Tokyo was attended by Mr. Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko, who was the host of the event.
In his remarks Mr. Jaishankar described as an action-oriented platform that is aimed at “practical outcomes” saying, “…our HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) conversations are reflected in understandings and SOPs between our Navies.”
He also referred to the IPMDA initiative as a system that will link the information fusion centres that will enable real time coordination to deal with maritime challenges. Indicating a global agenda of the Quad club, the Foreign Ministers said that they have “great interest” in “ensuring peace and stability in the Middle East”. The joint statement condemned the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israeli targets by Hamas but also said, “large-scale loss of civilian lives and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is unacceptable.”
The Foreign Ministers said there is an “urgent need” to “significantly increase deliveries of life-saving humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza”, and highlighted “the crucial need to prevent regional escalation.”
”We urge all parties to comply with international law, including international humanitarian law, as applicable. We welcome UNSC Resolution S/RES/2735 (2024), and strongly urge all parties concerned to work immediately and steadily toward the release of all hostages and an immediate ceasefire,” declared the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Japan, India, and the United States.
The dignitaries also expressed their “deepest concern” for the ongoing war in Ukraine where the war has been raging since February 2022 when Russian forces invaded the country. The joint statement underscored the importance of “sovereignty and territorial integrity” for Ukraine and sought “a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in line with international law, consistent with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter”.
The four-power consensus on the territorial integrity of Ukraine indicates the larger discussion over the matter as PM Modi is expected to visit Ukraine next month. Answering a question in a press conference after the meeting, Mr. Jaishankar hinted at possibilities of “more contacts” between India and Ukraine but did not confirm Mr Modi’s Ukraine visit and said, “Things [should] move from the battlefield into the conference table, that is our endeavour…In the last two and half years, the conflict has cost lives, and has caused economic damage and created food shortages.”
The meeting also took up the violence in Myanmar which has pitted dozens of Ethnic Armed Organisations against the forces of the military junta in Nay Pyi Taw and said the situation is impacting the neighbours of Myanmar who are facing problems like cyber crime, human trafficking and smuggling of narcotic items.
“We remain deeply concerned by the worsening political, security and humanitarian situation in Myanmar, including in Rakhine. Ongoing conflict and instability have serious implications for regional peace and security. We again call for the immediate cessation of violence; the release of all those unjustly detained; safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance,” the joint statement declared after the meeting of the Quad Foreign Ministers.
