Not long ago, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi dismissed the whole “Indo-Pacific” discourse, the cornerstone of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue grouping (Quad), as nothing but an “attention-grabbing idea” which will “dissipate like ocean foam.” His ministry’s spokesman, Zhao Lijian, likewise lambasted the Quad, composed of the United States, India, Australia and Japan, as a “closed and exclusive cliqu[e]”, which has more bark than bite. The latest Quad Summit in Tokyo, however, is a testament to how the once inchoate grouping is starting to come of age. After a number of false starts, recent years have seen the ... (full story)