The Quad was the antagonistic scheme of the evil Americans to confront and challenge China's rise as the top superpower. The Americans have all the reasons to want to stop China from becoming richer and more powerful than them and to topple the Americans as the number one economy. Instead of facing the Chinese challenge head on by putting all their resources to boost up their economy, the Americans seek the way of the gangsters to want to block China by all kinds of aggression and wars. This is in the blood of the Americans, wars and killings, to be rich and powerful by going to wars to kill their enemies, to steal their land and their resources and enslave the people. The continent of North America and its natives, South America and the Arab countries in the Middle East are all victims of American aggression.
Very few countries would want to go to war with China except for a few like Japan, India and Australia, that have an axe to grind for one reason or another. In the military sense, only the Americans could present a real challenge to China. The rest are at best playing the role of jokers, jesters or spoilers.
In the case of Australia, a country with only 22m population, and a little military force that at best be enough to defend a city like Canberra and nothing else, definitely not enough to defend the piece of continent they stole from the aborigines, its role in the Quad is like a court jester. Everyday this jester would be pounding its chest and telling the top dog that it is going to send its soldiers to fight China, to go to war with China. What a joke. If Indonesia decides to take over this little clownish country, it would be over in a week before they could cry to the Americans for help.
India is big in population but otherwise just a spoiler. A poor third world country with pretension of being a super power but not even able to provide a decent life for its people, and a dilapidated armed forces that depend on buying weapons from other countries to give it some image of a modern army, can never be a threat to China. Without a strong military manufacturing base, its war machine could not last a week in a major war with China when it would be crying out loud for supplies of bullets and spare parts.
India would and could win all wars if wars is fought with the mouth and words. When real bullets and fighting soldiers are the key factors, India is best be forgotten. Its role in the Quad is best as a spoiler, a trumpet to make a lot of noises.
Japan has a significant military, the biggest and most powerful in Asia after China. But one for one, it is dwarfed by the might and heft of the PLA. Today Japan is no contest against China. There would be no Japan to talk about should war breaks out with China. Japan would be history, a barren grave yard for centuries to come. Japan has three arch enemies in China, Russia and the Koreas, all waiting for a chance to turn it into smokes.
Japan knows its precarious situation after being the invader and butcher of China, Russia and the Koreas in WW2. It has a blood debt to pay and can only hope that this day would not come or can be kicked further down the road. Its only hope is for the Americans to be on its back and keep its enemies at bay. It needs the Quad to keep the balance and China in check. Unfortunately the value of Quad and the American protection is weakening with each passing day.
The day of reckoning must come and will come for Japan to face its crimes against China, Russia and the Koreas. This is the pathetic future waiting for Japan. And the Quad is as good as it could be as a fictional gang that would prove useless when that day comes. The Americans would not and would never fight a war with China. In conventional war, the Americans would be blown to pieces by the PLA. The PLA had done it in Korea, and to some extent in Vietnam. A nuclear war has no winners. The Americans are hoping to use the Quad as a straw man to frighten China with a joker, jester and a spoiler in tow. The latter three would be turned into mince meat by China if a war really comes. Straw man can only be straw man and nothing else.
