Quad and India take second place as US, China cement ties

On May 16, Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping formally acknowledged what has long been in motion: a paradigm shift in US-China relations. Beijing frames it as “constructive strategic stability”; US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls it a “strategic stability point.”

For the first time in decades, the United States concedes that China now matches it in both economic and military weight – an equilibrium no other nation has achieved since the Cold War.

This recognition cements US-China ties as the axis of global order and international security. It also signals a new deterrent reality: China can now enforce its red lines, especially on Taiwan, curbing unilateral US moves. Confrontations have cooled – for now – ushering in a phase of managed competition across the Indo-Pacific.

In this context, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue formed in 2007 by Australia, India, Japan and the US with the intent of countering Chinese power, is being given a secondary role.

The role envisaged for QUAD was dictated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the QUAD Foreign Ministers meeting in Delhi (May 26, 2026); the US wants the QUAD members to assist access to critical minerals, enhance US energy sales, and help boost maritime surveillance and port infrastructure across the Indo-Pacific.

Yet, this functional repositioning comes...

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