‘Another empty promise’: Quad’s proposed Fiji port project raises doubts

A proposal by the Quad to build a port in Fiji, seen by analysts as a move to counter China’s rising economic clout in the Pacific region, has fuelled doubts about whether the four-member security bloc is committed to completing the project amid differing policy priorities.At a meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, in New Delhi last week, the foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the United States – Penny Wong, S. Jaishankar, Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, respectively – agreed to undertake the bloc’s first joint infrastructure project.“We are going to be partnering on issues of port infrastructure, in particular in response to insufficient port capacity in the Pacific islands. We are announcing plans to work with Fiji,” Rubio said.