By Admiral Sunil Lanba (r)
At the leaders’ summit of QUAD members held in Tokyo on 24 May 2022, an important security-related message was issued in a statement. The leaders’ renewed their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive and resilient. They strongly supported the principles of freedom, the rule of law, democratic values, sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes without resorting to threat or use of force, any unilateral attempt to change the status quo, and freedom of navigation and overflight, all of which are essential to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and to the world.
They reaffirmed the QUAD resolve to uphold the international rules-based order, where countries are free from all forms of military, economic and political coercion. The joint statement highlighted important issues discussed, which included peace and stability, COVID 19 and global health, infrastructure, climate, QUAD fellowship, critical and emerging technologies, space and two important security-related issues of cyber security and Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR).
In relation to cyber security, the QUAD members recognised the urgent need to take a collective approach to enhance cybersecurity. QUAD members agreed to coordinate capacity-building programmes in the Indo-Pacific region under the Quad Cybersecurity Partnership and initiate the first-ever Quad Cybersecurity Day to help individual internet users across nations, the Indo-Pacific region, and beyond to better protect themselves from cyber threats.
On MDA, the joint statement read, “We welcome a new maritime domain awareness initiative, the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), designed to work with regional partners to respond to humanitarian and natural disasters and combat illegal fishing. IPMDA will support and work in consultation with Indo-Pacific nations and regional information fusion centres in the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands by providing technology and training to support enhanced, shared MDA to promote stability and prosperity in our seas and oceans. IPMDA embodies what the Quad stands for: catalysing our joint efforts towards concrete results that help make the region more stable and prosperous.”
HADR, which was central to the formation of the QUAD in 2004 post the major tsunami which hit parts of South East Asia and South Asia, the Leaders’ announced the establishment of the “Quad Partnership on HADR in the Indo-Pacific”. This partnership will further strengthen collaboration between Navies and Coast Guards to respond effectively to disasters in the region.
The focus on MDA in the joint statement has the potential to build on the ongoing interaction among the Navies of the QUAD. MDA is at the centre/core of all operations at sea. Pooling/integration of surveillance assets/resources will lead to greater awareness in the vast Indo Pacific Ocean. India already has white shipping information exchange agreement with over 20 nations and regional organisations.
India has a dedicated International Fusion Centre at Gurugram, which is manned by Indian Navy and Coast Guard officers. There are International Liaison officers from six countries who are part of the IFC, and in the coming years, more will join. The Centre comes out with a fortnightly and monthly analysis of incidents at sea, including piracy and armed robbery, smuggling, Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, illegal human migration, and unauthorised maritime incidents/accidents. The majority of IUU fishing cases monitored are by Chinese fishing.
The IPMDA initiative adds to the existing resources to monitor real-time surface ship activity in the Indo-Pacific. It will pool in regional information centres, satellite input, maritime assets and data mining to generate a comprehensive MDA of the Indo-Pacific. This will improve the ability of QUAD partners, island states in the Pacific and Indian Ocean and countries in South East Asia and the Indian Ocean to monitor their maritime territories.
In space, QUAD members will work to enhance sharing of space-based civil earth observation data and provide a “Quad Satellite Data Portal” that would link respective national satellite data resources.
The success of these initiatives will largely depend on the political will of QUAD members to get countries to join in sharing information and committing resources to generate a comprehensive MDA to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific Region. However, members would need to commit resources to take other initiatives forward.
Adm. Sunil Lanba (r) is a former Indian Navy Chief
