India, July 5 -- The Quad meeting holds added importance at a time when the US, embroiled in the Russia-Ukraine war and more directly in the Iran-Israel war, is seen to be losing its strategic focus to counteract China's assertive rise in the Indo-Pacific region.

Multilateral and minilateral groupings of all hues and designs are in their most heightened phase of transition and transformation recalibrating and readjusting to the seismic shifts in global affairs. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) stands at a critical phase of churning in the Indo-Pacific region, where America's commitments are being questioned and China is trying to woo its neighbours by offering economic incentives.

Even as the Trump team negotiates a new trade ...