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Can Asean continue to ignore the Quad?
A closer look at the Wilmington Declaration shows the four-nation grouping advancing steadily.
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(From left) Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, then Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden at the Archmere Academy in Wilmington, Delaware, on Sept 21.
PHOTO: AFP
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For some time, South-east Asian nations caught up in their own problems have tended to see the growth of the Quad, which groups the US with Australia, Japan and India, as something of an idle curiosity.
If you were a canine dozing in the sunshine, the Quad was a bunch of large mammals having a little swim in the nearby water, something you cocked an eye at but felt no threat from. Creatures that will move away after making a bit of a splash.
