The members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad) plan to hold a joint coastguard training and launch a range of new initiatives to strengthen Indo-Pacific maritime security next year, a strategy experts say reflects a shift towards grey-zone tactics to uphold regional norms and counter China’s assertive interpretation of maritime rules.
The group consisting of India, Australia, Japan and the United States will conduct their first-ever joint coastguard drill at the Port of Yokohama in Tokyo Bay from January 8, according to a Nikkei Asia report citing a source in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The drill has been timed to coincide with a visit by Indian Coast Guard Director General Paramesh Sivamani and the arrival of a large Indian patrol vessel at Yokohama.
Japan and India’s coastguards will join the US Coast Guard and Australian Border Force for oil and hazardous substance control training, sharing and assessing each other’s operational methods, according to the report.
Dongkeun Lee, a PhD candidate at Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, said the role of coastguards in the Indo-Pacific has grown due to the existing balance of power in the region.
“Since both China and the US [along with its partners] recognise the risks of escalating conflicts to the level of direct military clashes, these countries are increasingly adopting grey-zone tactics to either uphold or enforce the rules and norms they support,” Lee told This Week in Asia.