The ratification of the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) by Japan and Australia has raised questions about the “depth of their commitments” to the concepts of the Indo-Pacific and Quad, according to former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal. “The impact of Quad has been diluted by RCEP as China’s economic clout has been recognised”, the former top Indian diplomat told Sputnik. Dr Jikon Lai, an Assistant Professor in the International Political Economy Programme at RSIS reasoned that that despite the informal Quad grouping, the benefits of the RCEP would have been too hard to reject for the COVID-battered economies of Australia and Japan. “The agreement offers some economic benefits that signatory countries were hardly going to reject under current circumstances when most of their economies have been hard-hit by COVID”, the Singapore-based academic told Sputnik. “All countries have complex and multi-faceted foreign relations. Moreover, negotiations for RCEP were launched in 2012, well before current tensions and disagreements had surfaced”, remarked Lai.