Navigating the Indo-Pacific Question: Potentials For QUAD-ASEAN Alignment

Security and strategy have been the guiding principles in today’s geopolitical scenario. The ASEAN, or Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has been at the forefront of ensuring a secure and stable world. At the core of it lies a critical region, the Indo-Pacific. The Indo-Pacific has been witnessing an evolving nature of geopolitics and is significant for regional groupings like ASEAN and QUAD. The QUAD, comprising the United States, India, Australia, and Japan, stands for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a platform that strives for a free and rules-based Indo-Pacific. Aligning with this, ASEAN aims to be guided by consensus-building and mutual interests.

ASEAN, as a regional grouping, has contributed immensely to the development of the Indo-Pacific region and to ensuring regional integration. Despite the differences in origin and foundational framework, both groupings share mutual interests, overlapping opportunities, and similar aspirations. Overlapping ideologies instill trust and credibility among groupings with each other, opening a space for cooperation and collaboration to exist. In the current world order, as power dynamics are shifting, regional groupings like this must navigate a potential partnership that allows the recognition of shared ideas and mutual benefits. Therefore, in this article, we aim to explore the potential of QUAD and ASEAN to be partners in this path of achieving stability. 

Mutual Interests Amid Maritime Vulnerabilities

QUAD and ASEAN’s core ideas include centrality, unity, and security. The primary priority is economic resilience. The supply chain vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for a robust economic structure that ensures secure and sustainable supply chains. This idea converges with ASEAN’s ability to secure supply chains and also fulfills the QUAD’s aim of ensuring resilience and developing emerging technologies.

Secondly, ASEAN and QUAD are also equally concerned about the consequences of climate change. Climate change is a global threat—the rising sea levels and unintended extreme temperatures impact the environment, society, and economic growth. To counter climate change, ASEAN and QUAD must collaborate on developing renewable energy infrastructure and facilitate green transition.

Thirdly, the group of nations in ASEAN and QUAD vouch for multipolarity and counter China’s unfair influence in the Indo-Pacific. The idea of a fair and multipolar Indo-Pacific provides a common ground for aligning visions. Additionally, since Southeast Asia is a disaster-prone region,  both ASEAN and QUAD can be frontrunners in the domain of HADR or Humanitarian Aid Disaster Relief by ensuring aid transfers, vaccine diplomacy, rescue operations, and even providing assets(technology or funds) and regional knowledge.

Finally, soft-power collaborations are valuable wherein all countries can bond over education, music, culture, movies, food, and lifestyle, to develop people-to-people ties and build trust. This form of cooperation goes beyond the conventional idea of economy or security. 

Challenges in QUAD-ASEAN Collaboration

The potential for meaningful cooperation between the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is complicated by several structural and geopolitical challenges. These obstacles arise from diverging strategic priorities and external economic pressures. For a fruitful collaboration between the two blocks, it is essential to address these challenges.

The most significant barrier lies in their fundamental orientations and different strategic priorities. With the US, Japan, and Australia at its center, QUAD places a strong emphasis on security cooperation and countering Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. Its efforts often focus on maritime security and defense partnerships and align its initiatives with the broader idea of a ‘free and fair Indo-Pacific.’

ASEAN’s strategy, on the other hand, relies on non-alignment and economic integration. ASEAN as a bloc has prioritised neutrality to maintain cordial relations with member states. Undoubtedly, ASEAN does recognise the need for maritime security, but in the case of security in the South China Sea, the primary focus remains on connectivity and growth. Therefore, there exists a strategic divide in terms of outlook and prioritisation. This challenge acts as a limitation in aligning the security perspective of both groups.

Furthermore, another limitation is the influence of China in ASEAN’s economic and political affairs. As per the recent data, China is the fourth largest source of FDI among ASEAN’s Dialogue partners, highlighting the strong trade relations between the two entities.

Additionally, China has also been a major investor in the region’s infrastructural projects under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Considering the foundation of QUAD is based on countering Chinese affairs, this alignment of China with ASEAN’s members is a major irritant in the potential collaboration.  China views QUAD as an organisation “that will soon dissipate.” For China, QUAD remains alarming, and QUAD’s potential partners will also hold the same warning sign, creating a major hurdle in developing ties. 

Recommendations for Strengthening Collaboration 

To counter these challenges, systematic recommendations are required. Given ASEAN’s preference for non-confrontational engagement, QUAD should initially focus on areas of mutual interest that do not directly challenge China’s strategic interests. Key sectors for collaboration include infrastructure and Sustainable Development that offer transparent, high-quality alternatives. These alternatives include climate change and health security: Joint initiatives in disaster resilience and renewable energy to address shared vulnerabilities.

Furthermore, other growing sectors for collaboration can be the digital economy and cybersecurity. These can work to strengthen regional digital infrastructure while combating cyber threats through capacity-building programs. The ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) emphasises inclusivity and maritime cooperation, principles that QUAD can reinforce. By framing its engagements within the AOIP framework, QUAD can signal respect for ASEAN’s centrality and reduce perceptions of external dominance.

The relationship does not primarily have to be about military cooperation, but also unconventional areas involving maritime domain awareness and privacy. Additionally, HADR remains an important arena of collaboration with immense growth potential. The QUAD members should expand trade partnerships, foreign direct investment, and technology transfers to ASEAN nations, reducing economic reliance on China. Simultaneously, clear diplomatic messaging emphasising QUAD’s complementary, rather than competitive role, in the region can alleviate concerns about containment strategies.

Conclusion

Establishing an annual high-level QUAD-ASEAN Forum would provide a structured platform for policy coordination, ensuring sustained engagement without undermining ASEAN’s autonomy. Such a mechanism could facilitate discussions on regional security, economic resilience, and emerging technological challenges. Recognizing ASEAN’s diversity, QUAD should adopt a variable geometry approach, allowing individual member states to engage at their preferred level. Partnerships could range from bilateral agreements with key ASEAN nations as an example Indonesia and Vietnam, to sub-regional collaborations in the Mekong or maritime Southeast Asia.

Indonesia and Vietnam, given their geopolitical weight and balanced relations with both QUAD and China, can serve as mediators in fostering broader regional consensus. Strengthening bilateral ties with these nations can create a ripple effect, encouraging deeper ASEAN-wide cooperation. Both QUAD and ASEAN must collaboratively define a long-term vision that balances security imperatives with economic prosperity. A joint statement affirming commitment to a free, open, inclusive, and rules-based Indo-Pacific, while acknowledging ASEAN’s central role, could solidify mutual trust and strategic alignment.

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This article, written by Anshika Malik & Siti Zulaikha is part of the India–ASEAN Youth Conference 2025, co-hosted by Foreign Policy Talks and The Geostrata. The conference brings together young leaders from India and Southeast Asia to foster dialogue and strengthen regional cooperation.