Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

On Tuesday, foreign ministers of the so-called "Quad" members — the US, Japan, Australia and India — met in India and announced new initiatives in areas including the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration and Quad Critical Minerals Initiative Framework. Some media outlets used the occasion of the meeting to hype that "the Quad isn't dead." However, exclusive blocs such as the Quad are inherently at odds with the broader direction of regional peace, security and cooperation. In the long run, their weakening influence and diminishing cohesion remain the prevailing trend.

Ever since its launch, the Quad has functioned as a disruptive bloc that stokes rifts and intensifies rivalry across the Asia Pacific economic and security landscape, displaying the clear characteristics of an "exclusive clique." 

After taking office in 2021, the Biden administration significantly strengthened the Quad's role and functions within its so-called "Indo-Pacific Strategy." It established specialized working groups on military, technological, and economic cooperation and formalized regular leaders' summits among the four members. Yet Washington's efforts have not altered the fundamental reality that the mechanism remains plagued by internal divergences among its member states, nor have they eased the wariness and dissatisfaction felt by countries outside the group.

Each Quad member state has its own calculation, lacking a solid foundation for sustained and substantive cooperation. While the recent foreign ministers' meeting publicly touted cooperation among the members, it could not conceal the deep divisions over their respective national interests. Al Jazeera captured the subtle atmosphere at the meeting venue: as the four foreign ministers stood side by side preparing for the "family photograph," "their body language was stiff, with only the top Indian diplomat, S Jaishankar, trying to smile." This awkwardness was no coincidence, but rather reflected the Quad's state of "sharing the same bed while dreaming different dreams."

Judging by its development trajectory, this mechanism runs counter to the overarching trends of regional integration and economic globalization. Moreover, it goes against the mainstream aspirations of the vast majority of countries and people in the Asia-Pacific region for stability and peace, placing it in the disgraceful position of going against the tide of the times and undermining the well-being of the people.

In today's world, where turmoil and upheaval are intertwined, the Asia-Pacific region has enjoyed long-term stability and prosperity compared to other parts of the world plagued by severe turmoil or armed conflict. This has made the region an engine of global economic development and an oasis of world peace. The growing economic interconnectedness and interdependence in the Asia-Pacific region, together with the indivisibility of security, form a solid guarantee and fundamental prerequisite for building a regional order that advances toward greater equality, orderliness, and inclusiveness that benefits all. The vast majority of countries in the region highly cherish and value this.

The securitization of the economy and the logic of bloc-based development have already led Europe into a tragic situation characterized by a completely torn security architecture and persistent clouds of conflict and war. To prevent this European tragedy from repeating in the Asia-Pacific region, and to maintain long-term peace and prosperity in the region, Asia-Pacific countries and their people must clearly and firmly oppose the application of these outdated and self-defeating ideas to our region, so as to avoid the repetition of historical tragedies.

The actual track record of the "Quad" mechanism demonstrates that it precisely follows this highly harmful logic. Its practices have already caused — and will inevitably continue to cause — more friction among countries in the Asia-Pacific and generate greater regional crises. This approach will surely meet with strong and widespread opposition from all those who cherish peace and prosperity.

Faced with a lack of cohesion within the Quad and criticism and rejection from the vast majority of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the four parties have ultimately chosen to prolong their own existence by manufacturing external crises and creating adversaries. Their exaggeration of concerns about China and their emphasis on so-called unity actually expose the reality of deepening internal rifts and irreconcilable contradictions.

The author is a professor of the Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn