Violation By USA Warship Of Indian EEZ Indicates End Of Quad As A Military Bloc
By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar, Special Forces
Since its theoretical inception, the biggest stumbling block for Quad has been that its members have yet to reach a consensus on the basic idea.Though each of the members have concern for the Chinese behaviour in trying to control the so called South China Sea, their perception differs.
China thinks that the bloc is trying to form a military alliance against it and USA also wants QUAD to become something like an Eastern NATO. However India and Japan certainly are against this.
India which had close trade links till recently with China has started delinking economically because of attack by Chinese PLA on the Indian Army in the Galwan Valley. However in spite of this, India is not going to form a military bloc to contain China. Australia and Japan believe the Chinese market is important to them and both rely on Chinese supplies, and even the US takes both the Chinese market and supplies seriously.
Therefore the Biden administration has also made a confusing statement that there will be “extreme competition” with China, but it would also seek areas of cooperation. So when the country which stresses on the formation of a Military Alliance itself stresses on cooperation, the choice for the others will certainly not be clear.
India will not become member of the Military Alliance led by USA as it cannot accept a secondary role in US-India relations, and this needs to be understood very clearly by the USA which seems to be reluctant to allow India to sit with it on an equal footing. Quad becoming a NATO like ( and it will be much bigger and stronger militarily ) means that India will not be able to retract its formal commitments to the US as requested in an alliance.
So India which has equal bilateral relationship with Russia cannot get attached to the US chariot, because this will deal a heavy blow to India-Russia relations. India has also many other cards to play – if it develops better relations with China, then the Western Countries will have less maneuvering space in international power politics. India is also trying to develop better relationship with Japan, Vietnam, ASEAN as a grouping, Iran and Saudi Arabia too. The very size of India cannot let it become a junior partner to any other country.
The above rejection of QUAD as a military bloc by India runs contrary to US perception. The Americans think that they have been giving preferential treatment to India all this while in their policies Sand catering to Indian demands, while itself it perceives to have become a victim to Indian arrogance. US presumes that it has been consistently frustrated by India’s reluctance to systemize the mechanism of Quad as a military group and turn Asia-Pacific alliance into a NATO like structure. The big boss USA is also angered by India’s planned acquisition of Russia’s S-400 defense system.
Therefore the new American Administration has decided on some Mutt& Jeff tactics. On one hand the Biden administration during the March video summit on QUAD very warmly praised India, and on the other, suddenly India found itself alarmed by the USS John Paul Jones’s blatant intrusion on April 7 inside its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) without requesting its prior consent.
In addition the US Navy proclaimed World Wide that it was asserting its “ right to freedom of Navigation “ on the high seas. Naturally the Indian Ministry of External Affairs conveyed its concerns to the US over the incident and this is certainly not the end. India is surely going to reciprocate in equal measures but at the time and place of its own choosing. However one thing is certain that USA can say goodbye to their vision of seeing QUAD as a military bloc.
The US may like to see its attempt to warn and pressure the India Government but India will not lean toward the US. India will not break its relations with Russia and will also deal with China on its own. This may certainly affect the US attitude toward its military cooperation with India but India will not become its follower.
The US Navy move has already angered nationalistic sentiment toward US imperialism among the Indian public and some have already criticized the Indian government’s eagerness and necessity to take part in the US-led Quad grouping. The US Navy’s intrusion into India’s EEZ, has confirmed the believe that its firm refusal to let Quad evolve into a NATO-like military alliance in Asia is a wise choice.
So far, military cooperation between the US and India has been gaining ground but now the bilateral relations will face pressure in the foreseeable future. The political disharmony between the US and India is expected to intensify. India’s foreign policy has never been centric to just one country and since 2014 it has started viewing things from the prism based in New Delhi and not other Capitals.
For India, its center of foreign policy is never the US but the World as a whole. India will not give up other opportunities for the sake of the US, especially the chance of ensuring total peace in the Indian Ocean.
This also demonstrates that Quad has reached its ceiling as a military alliance. The latest US move toward India is indicative of rising contradictions within. India is the key factor in Quad – Australia and Japan are already US allies, and India is not, which gives it a unique position to claim privileges. The US intrusion of India’s EEZ as a means to give notice to India highlights the dilemma of the USA insecurity with respect to a rising India.
The lesson for India is very clear that there is no such thing as a free lunch – for receiving strategic support from the US against China, India must return favour with what the US wants, or no matter how important a partner is, the US will not be hesitant to wave its big stick.
For the US too lesson will soon be very clear that it cannot coerce India, no matter what and must learn to have all ties with India based on equality only. There is also a food for thought …..what happens if India and China form a bloc with Russia in tow ??? It will certainly be the rise of Asia
