No, the ‘Middle East Quad’ Is Not Anti-China
THE DIPLOMAT
The past week has seen a flurry of media interest in a new so-called “Middle East Quad” between India, Israel, the UAE, and the U.S., including in these pages. Some especially more enthusiastic elements in India and Washington, believe that the group will provide a useful counterweight to Chinese influence in the region.
However, such ambitions are overstated for what looks likely to be more an economically oriented forum than a new political and military partnership. Despite claims that it is not targeted against China, it seems clear how the United States and India might benefit from such an arrangement; it is less apparent what Israel or the UAE would get from it.
For the U.S. and India, a Middle East Quad would complement the emerging one in the Indo-Pacific region, which pulls together both countries along with Japan and Australia. The partnership between the four has gained greater weight as U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to realize the ambitions of his predecessors by “pivoting” American assets from the Middle East theater to East Asia. The Indo-Pacific Quad has also been helped by deteriorating relations between China and its neighbors in the region.
