The Quad leaders’ summit in March of this year was widely covered as a coming out party for a previously rather obscure 4-nation group of China rivals — Japan, Australia, India, and of course, the United States. Though the Quad had been meeting regularly at more junior levels since 2017 (after its original short-lived founding in 2007), the leaders’ summit resulted in the first joint statement, giving the impression that the four nations were closely aligned.