Quad pushes logistics network amid India-China thaw

NEW DELHI: Even as New Delhi works to consolidate a thaw with Beijing, the Quad has moved a step closer to operationalising a logistics network built to speed up humanitarian and disaster-response missions across the Indo-Pacific.

Australia, India, Japan and the US have wrapped up a tabletop exercise in Tokyo to take forward the Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network (IPLN). The Ministry of External Affairs said on Sunday the four countries had made "significant progress" on standard operating procedures that will give the network an institutional framework.

Hosted by Japan's Ministry of Defense on September 3 and 4, the drill was built around natural-disaster scenarios. It examined how the four partners could pool their existing logistics capabilities while sharpening interoperability and coordination.

It followed the first IPLN tabletop exercise in Hawaii in April last year and a field training exercise in Guam in December. The four also discussed how to coordinate relief work during crises and emergencies, and offered condolences to those hit by the recent floods.

The IPLN was unveiled at the Quad leaders' summit in September 2024 as a civilian initiative, drawing on the four countries' existing logistics assets for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

The Tokyo exercise came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping in New Delhi on the margins of the BRICS summit, with both sides looking to build on recent gains. It was Xi's first visit to India in seven years.

Modi held that peace and tranquillity on the border was fundamental to restoring normalcy in the relationship and stressed the need to stick to existing agreements and understandings. Meanwhile, Beijing pitched for parallel progress instead, arguing that cooperation should move ahead alongside efforts to settle the boundary question.

Both sides pointed to mechanisms already in place, including the 25th round of Special Representatives' talks on August 25 and senior commander-level flag meetings on September 6 and 7.

The Quad maintains that it is not a military alliance, with its work covering maritime security, critical and emerging technologies and humanitarian assistance. Beijing has repeatedly described the grouping as an exclusive bloc built for containment, a characterisation New Delhi rejects.

The Tokyo drill coincides with a run of separate defence engagements between India and the other three Quad members. As reported earlier, the IAF and the Japan Air Self-Defence Force are flying Veer Guardian-2026 at Jodhpur from September 9 to 22, with Tejas, Su-30MKI and Rafale jets operating alongside Japanese F-2As.

It is the first time JASDF fighters have flown out of an Indian airbase. Running simultaneously is the 22nd edition of Yudh Abhyas, with Arctic-trained soldiers from the US Army's 11th Airborne Division and its 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force at high-altitude locations until September 28. Navy chief Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, meanwhile, met senior Australian military leaders from September 9 to 11 before flying on to New Zealand.

Separately, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh met Vietnamese Deputy Defence Minister Senior Lt Gen Nguyen Truong Thang on the sidelines of the BRICS summit on Sunday. The two agreed to speed up technology sharing and defence industrial cooperation, just weeks after India and Vietnam advanced their BrahMos coastal-defence missile contract.