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As Aukus cools, can Quad be far behind?
US President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ strategy has forced US allies to hedge their bets and mend fences with China.
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(From left) India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, Japan's then Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Australia's then Foreign Minister Marise Payne and then US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo prior to a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue ministerial meeting in Tokyo in 2020.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Asked about the revival of the Quad in March 2018, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s dismissive comment was that while there was no shortage of headline-grabbing news, all this would dissipate “like foam on the Pacific and Indian oceans”.
The remarks were seen as sour Chinese grapes at the time, and subsequent events, for a period, made Mr Wang look like he had made an error of judgment. But could Mr Wang have been right after all?
