Quad as Asian NATO

Abstract

The change in geopolitics and the regional security environment amid increasing major powers’ competition between US and China has spurred the debate on the possibility of the creation of a pan-Asian (or Indo-Pacific) security institution like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The term “Asian NATO” has swiftly become part of this discourse in strategic circles. Beijing has repeatedly sought to label the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad 2.0) as a Washington-led effort to shape an anti-China collective security alliance in the Indo-Pacific region. This chapter examines whether the Quad framework can evolve and be institutionalized as an Asian NATO-like organization in this region. Over the past year, all Quad states—the US, India, Japan and Australia—have seen a decline in their relationship with China alongside a vertical, horizontal and thematic expansion of their Quad dialogue, particularly under its first Leaders’ Summit in March 2021. Under such circumstances, it is pertinent to question whether there is sufficient impetus for forming an Indo-Pacific NATO. For this, the chapter begins by dissecting the domestic debates in each Quad nation to better understand their attitude and outlook toward committing to a militarized alliance in the region. Further, it posits situations under which the Quad may evolve into a collective security mechanism. These debates are situated in the context of the evolution of NATO as a derivative of the collective security concept and the emergence of the hub-and-spoke alliance system in Asia. In other words, this chapter draws on the experiences of NATO, as well as the unsuccessful Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO), to project how the security architecture in Asia is likely to evolve.