Quad Leaders to Meet in Manila After a Two-Year Gap: All About the Grouping

In news

• The Quad Leaders' Summit will be held in Manila, Philippines, on the sidelines of the 49th ASEAN Summit (16–18 November 2026).
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the meeting. The Philippines chairs ASEAN in 2026.
• It will be the first leaders' summit since Wilmington, USA (September 2024). It will also be the first for US President Donald Trump in his current term.
• It will be the first Quad summit since PM Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping at Kazan (October 2024). That meeting opened the way for the normalisation of India–China ties.
• China's reaction: Chinese state media called the grouping a "small circle" revived by the US. Beijing warned that it will oppose any attempt to internationalise the South China Sea dispute.
• The summit comes amid fresh China–Philippines maritime tensions. After Manila, Trump will travel to China for the APEC Summit at Shenzhen.

What is the Quad?

• Full name: Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD).
• Members: India, the United States, Japan and Australia. All four are democracies with stakes in the Indo-Pacific.
• Nature: an informal, flexible grouping. It is not a military alliance and not a treaty-based organisation.
  • It has no charter, no secretariat and no headquarters.
  • Decisions are taken by consensus and announced through joint statements and declarations.
• Stated goal: a free, open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific, based on the rule of law, freedom of navigation and respect for sovereignty. The Quad supports ASEAN centrality.
• India's view: the Quad is a platform for practical cooperation and global public goods, not a bloc against any country.

How the Quad evolved

Year	Milestone
2004	Four navies worked together for relief after the Indian Ocean tsunami (the "Tsunami Core Group")
2007	Japanese PM Shinzo Abe pushed the idea. The first Quad meeting was held in Manila on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum. Abe gave his "Confluence of the Two Seas" speech in India's Parliament
2008	Australia withdrew, and the Quad went dormant for nearly a decade
2017	Quad 2.0: revived at officials' level in Manila on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit
2019	First Foreign Ministers' Meeting, in New York
2020	Australia rejoined the Malabar naval exercise, so all four Quad navies now exercise together
2021	First Leaders' Summit (virtual, March). First in-person summit in Washington (September)
2022–2024	Summits at Tokyo (2022), Hiroshima (2023) and Wilmington (2024)
2025	India was to host the summit, but it did not take place
2026	Three Foreign Ministers' Meetings: New Delhi (26 May), Manila (22 July) and Atlanta (31 October). Leaders' summit in Manila (November)

Memory Tip: Manila links the Quad's three starts: the first meeting (2007), the revival (2017) and the 2026 leaders' summit are all tied to ASEAN meetings in Manila.

How the Quad meets

Level	Details
Leaders' Summit	The highest level; meant to be annual since 2021. Hosting rotates among the four members. Wilmington 2024 was the sixth summit (two virtual and four in person)
Foreign Ministers' Meeting	Held since 2019; often on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, ASEAN or G20 meetings. New Delhi 2026 was the 11th
Senior officials' meetings	Officials prepare the agenda and follow up on decisions
Working groups	Critical and emerging technology, climate, health, infrastructure, space, cyber security and counter-terrorism (set up in 2023)
Coast guards and navies	Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission for coast guards. The four navies also meet in the Malabar exercise, which began as an India–US exercise in 1992

Key Quad initiatives

Maritime security

• IPMDA (Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness), 2022: gives regional partners near real-time satellite data to track "dark vessels", illegal fishing and smuggling. In 2026 it was extended to the Indian Ocean.
• MAITRI (Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific), 2024: trains partner countries to use IPMDA data and to protect their own waters. India hosted the first MAITRI workshop.
• Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission, 2025: officers from the coast guards of Japan, Australia and India sail aboard a US Coast Guard ship. India will host the next mission.
• IPMSC (Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration Initiative), 2026: new; it uses advanced technology to track grey and dark vessels, first in the Indian Ocean.

Health and people

• Quad Vaccine Partnership (2021): supplied COVID-19 vaccines to the Indo-Pacific.
• Quad Cancer Moonshot (2024): fights cervical cancer first, through screening, HPV vaccination and treatment.
• Quad Fellowship (2021): scholarships for students from the four countries to study science and technology in the US.

Infrastructure, technology and economy

• Quad Ports of the Future Partnership (2024): supports sustainable and resilient ports. Its first port project is a pilot in Fiji (2026).
• Undersea cables: the Quad aims to connect all Pacific Islands Forum countries through undersea cables.
• Quad Critical Minerals Initiative (2025) and its Framework (2026): for mining, processing, recycling and investment, to reduce dependence on a single supplier.
• Quad Indo-Pacific Energy Security Initiative (2026): covers fuel security and emergency response.
• Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network (2024): pools airlift capacity for faster disaster relief.

Disaster relief and terrorism

• HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) Partnership (2022): relief supplies are pre-positioned in the region.
• Counter-terrorism: the Quad condemned the Pahalgam attack (April 2025). Its partners hold tabletop exercises on terrorist use of drones.

Importance of the Quad

For India

• Balancing China: the Quad helps India respond to China's growing presence in the Indian Ocean and its pressure on the land border.
• Maritime security: better awareness of the sea routes through which most of India's trade passes.
• Technology and supply chains: partnerships in critical minerals, semiconductors, 5G and clean energy.
• Global standing: it supports India's role as a net security provider and its MAHASAGAR vision, which in 2025 expanded the earlier SAGAR (2015) vision.
• Act East: it complements India's ties with ASEAN and Pacific Island countries.

For the region

• It offers an alternative source of infrastructure, health and technology support for small states.
• It supports a rules-based maritime order under UNCLOS (1982), especially in the South China Sea.

Challenges

• China's opposition: Beijing calls the Quad an "Asian NATO" and a tool to contain China.
• Different priorities: India is the only member that is not a US treaty ally and the only one with a land border with China. Japan and Australia focus more on the western Pacific.
• Strategic autonomy: India avoids binding military commitments and keeps ties with Russia and BRICS.
• US unpredictability: shifting US policies on tariffs and alliances slowed the Quad in 2025. No leaders' summit was held that year.
• Gap between promise and delivery: many announcements still need funds and projects on the ground.

Similar groupings: don't confuse

Grouping	Members	Year	Nature
Quad	India, US, Japan, Australia	2007; revived 2017	Informal dialogue; maritime security, health, technology, infrastructure
AUKUS	Australia, UK, US	2021	Security pact; helps Australia get nuclear-powered submarines
"Squad"	US, Japan, Australia, Philippines	2024	Defence ministers' grouping focused on the South China Sea
JAI	Japan, America, India	2018	Trilateral leaders' meeting, first held at the G20 in Buenos Aires
I2U2	India, Israel, UAE, US	2021	"West Asian Quad"; food security, energy and infrastructure
SCRI	India, Japan, Australia	2021	Supply Chain Resilience Initiative
Malabar	India, US, Japan, Australia	1992 (India–US)	Naval exercise, not a grouping

Note: India is a member of the Quad, JAI, I2U2 and SCRI. India is not a member of AUKUS or the Squad.

Static connect

• Indo-Pacific: the term links the Indian and Pacific Oceans as one strategic space. The US renamed its Pacific Command as Indo-Pacific Command in 2018.
• ASEAN: founded in 1967 (Bangkok Declaration); 11 members after Timor-Leste joined in 2025. Its secretariat is in Jakarta.
• ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP): adopted in 2019; the Quad supports its practical implementation.
• South China Sea: China's "nine-dash line" claim was rejected by an arbitral tribunal under UNCLOS in 2016, in a case brought by the Philippines.

Exam relevance: UPSC Prelims and GS-2 (International groupings, India and its neighbourhood, Indo-Pacific); TGPSC, APPSC (International relations, Current events).