New Delhi, May 18 -- The Defence Ministers from Japan, the United States, Australia and the Philippines on 2 May pledged to maintain the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region, where all four share similar threats and concerns over China's increasing assertiveness. US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to deepen ties and increase military consolidation. Pentagon officials have privately nicknamed the new quadrilateral grouping as the "Squad." The defence chiefs of the "Squad" had met for the first time in June 2023 on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

With Quad's relatively lacklustre momentum lately, the inclusion of the Philippines in the new ...