The first Quad summit was remarkable for getting the nuance and emphasis right. From regional peace, respect for rules-based systems to vaccine cooperation. India will gain from sustaining the momentum. It’s a message to China that its bullying will attract a collective pushback from those with shared interests and threats.
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The best possible outcome for Quad would be for China to review the costs and consequences of its unduly aggressive behaviour – even by those standards, the intrusions into Ladakh were a grave provocation – and conclude that it must, in its own long term interests, conform more closely to an enlightened global consensus. If this is not being unduly optimistic, that should include its actions in Xinjiang, for example, which – unlike Taiwan – is its sovereign territory. China is now too consequential to the whole world, rippling outwards from Asia, to be like North Korea with a larger bank balance. It should not place at risk the spectacular gains it has made in the last forty years by uniting most of the world against it.