Sri Lanka, Feb. 27 -- An association of the US, Japan, India and Australia, QUAD is aiming to present a developmental model that will help stem China's influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

The QUAD, an association of the US, Japan, Australia and India, is essentially meant to stem China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region - an influence which is seen by QUAD members as being pushed by money power backed by military muscle.

Thus, at the core, QUAD is a security alliance. It is meant to push the geopolitical interests of its members vis-a-vis an increasingly aggressive China under President Xi Jinping. And QUAD makes no bones about the fact that its aim is "to secure the freedom of navigation and a rule-based order".

But to t...