A joint statement by the United States, India, Australia and Japan after their Quad summit last week made no mention of China, but Beijing is under no illusion that the four do not have their sights on keeping it in check. In a statement just hours before the Quad nations held the first meeting of their leaders on March 12, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman warned that countries should not “target or damage interests of a third party” and should not “pursue exclusive blocs”. Beijing’s strategy in dealing with the Quad has so far been to label it as irrelevant, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi famously likening it in 2018 to sea foam. The posturing by China belies concern about what this alliance might become and whether it will grow. “If the Quad was kept to these four countries, I think China can live with it. But the real worry is it becomes a Quad Plus, and I think there’s a potential for that,” said Assistant Prof essor Hoo Tiang Boon, who studies China’s foreign and security policy at the RSIS.