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The latest edition of the Quad Plus Dialogue (QPD) at the think tanks level was held virtually on 09 May, 2023. This time Vivekananda International Foundation hosted the dialogue. Apart from VIF, the think tanks from Quad members included the Heritage Foundation, US and the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA). The Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) from Taiwan also participated as a Quad-Plus partner.

The participants included Mr. Jeff M. Smith, Director of the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center; Ms. Tomiko Ichikawa, Director General of JIIA; Prof. Tsutomu Kikuchi, Senior Adjunct Fellow of JIIA; Mr. Yuichi Yoshida, Research Fellow of JIIA; Ms. Chloe Fu, Executive Officer, Political Division of Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S. (TECRO) and; Dr. Che-chuan Lee, Research Fellow of INDSR. The VIF was represented by Dr. Arvind Gupta (Director), Lt. Gen R. K. Sawhney (Retd.), Amb. Arun Kumar Singh, Amb. Anil Wadhwa, Amb. D. B. Venkatesh Varma, Gp. Cap. Naval Jagota (Retd.), Dr. Sweta Kumari and Ms. Prerna Gandhi.

The QPD was held in an interactive mode under the chairmanship of Dr. Arvind Gupta. The discussion focussed on the future of the Ukraine crisis and its regional and global implications. Recent geopolitical developments including US policy towards China, Russia- China relations, situation in Taiwan, India’s security concerns, upcoming G7 summit, and Japan’s security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region were part of the deliberation. The QPD also examined Quad-related work at the partner institutions, as well as potential future directions.