Amid global realignments, India should secure its interests

The strategic reverberations of Narendra Modi’s September 24 double bill in Washington will be felt for long — a meeting with US President Joe Biden, followed by the first in-person Quad Summit where they were joined by the PMs of Australia and Japan. For starters, China was carefully omitted from the joint statements of both meetings. All opening statements by the President and the PMs suggested that the Quad had relegated the security aspect from its exertions. It was even felt that AUKUS, a security trilateral between the UK and two Quad partners, Australia and the US, had overtaken Quad by being more proactive in digging the trenches for a future battle with a new adversary.

However, the simultaneous presence of the Quad spy chiefs in Washington, and Quad’s commencement of joint work in emerging technology indicates China was the elephant in the room. The growing proximity of common purpose may help India access the currencies of tomorrow such as military drones, 6G, semiconductors and specialized solar panels. It was almost a decade back that South Block had ruled out Russia as an across-the-board partner in frontier areas. But it is also noteworthy that even during the UNGA address Biden did not name China. Biden also broke a long-running China-US stalemate by facilitating the release of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, and Beijing reciprocated by freeing two Canadians.

The challenge before India is to lean on the West to attain global standards in technological and military fields. Yet it must avoid being used as a proxy diplomatic weapon, for there is the risk of being left in the lurch if America’s priorities change. The Biden bilateral and the Quad Summit have promised much in regional infrastructure and co-development in frontier areas. But on the ground, India is yet to recover the trade concessions rescinded by Trump and the PM’s expectation of a generous immigration quota was merely acknowledged by Biden. India also can ill-afford to close all communications with two of its neighbors. In these fast-changing global realignments, India should steadfastly secure its own interests.

(Tribune India)