India on Saturday lashed out at China’s repeated condemnation of the Quad’s fourth foreign ministers’ meeting despite the nation not even being named explicitly by the ministers attending the meet. Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar while hosting a joint press conference with Australian counterpart Marise Payne said that repeated condemnation from China does not make Quad less credible.
“The four of us yesterday made a point that we’re here to do positive things, to contribute to peace, prosperity, and the stability of the region. Our actions and stance are very clear. Criticising it repeatedly doesn’t make us less credible,” Jaishankar said. The union minister at the joint press conference of the Quad meeting echoed prime minister Narendra Modi’s vision of the Quad coalition, where he says that the group is committed to global good.
While Jaishankar stressed on vaccine equity, tech exchange and economic prosperity, China seems frustrated even at the mention of a free and fair Indo-Pacific showing it is concerned by the advancements made by the Quad across various sectors.
‘Significant Aggression’
The White House intensified its focus on India’s presence in Quad because of China’s ‘acute’ economic and military ‘coercion and aggression’ in the Indo-Pacific, according to a release titled US’ Indo-Pacific Strategy. The White House highlighted that the region suffers due to China’s actions in eastern Ladakh due to its aggression against India near the Line of Actual Control (LAC). India’s importance to the US and the Quad grouping has increased to such an extent that the US now refers to the region as Indo-Pacific rather than Asia-Pacific in its releases and strategic documents.
While experts analyse as to how much of a military challenge Quad can amount to the rabidly evolving People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the coalition focuses on soft power activities to allow nations to choose between an authoritarian China and a sovereign India, Japan, Australia and the US. India has been recognised internationally for its soft power approach and also has delivered on the coalition’s promises with its robust vaccine manufacturing capability. The Quad vaccine initiative has delivered 485 million vaccines and India conveyed on Friday that it will manufacture COVOVAX and CORBEVAX vaccines further strengthening the arsenal against Covid-19.
Quad also showcases that aside from Japan, Australia and the US – allies in the traditional sense post Cold War – it is India that is the most wooed partner in the coalition. White House’s national security coordinator for the Indo-Pacific region Kurt Campbell earlier in November even said that India is ‘the critical, crucial member in the Quad’. Experts speaking to news agency AFP say that Quad can also be seen as a long-term courtship of India, since New Delhi always has been insistent on remaining non-aligned traditionally.
The vaccine strategy is also a tool for further trust building with smaller nations, as suggested by Republican and Democrat lawmakers, who are forced to opt for China-made vaccines whose efficacy are questioned.
As Blinken said on Friday that developments in the Indo-Pacific will shape the 21st century, India’s role in Quad will play an important part in shaping a free, fair and inclusive Indo-Pacific.
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