Why India should adopt an objective approach to the Quad

The opening remarks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating Quad is here to stay, at the Quad Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday, have evoked much applause. Even more appreciative was the fact that he mentioned that the Quadrilateral coalition—comprising Japan, the US, Australia, and India—is ‘not against anyone’, but for ‘a rule-based order’ and ‘respect for sovereignty’.

While India received praise from fellow Quad partners, with President Joe Biden saying that ‘the US has things to learn from India’s experience and leadership in the Indian Ocean’, the US president was heard saying to his fellow Quad leaders, “China continues to behave aggressively, testing us [US and its partners] all across the region, and it’s true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits.” Biden also said that while Chinese President Xi Jinping was focussing on “domestic economic challenges”, he was also “looking to buy himself some diplomatic space, in my [Biden’s] view, to aggressively pursue China’s interest,” reported The Guardian.

Though the group declaration carefully avoided naming China.

From a Trump-era ‘Trade War’, along with the issues of Tibet and Taiwan, global competition of power and trade balance, and de-risking supply chains from China, to the differences with Beijing on wars in West Asia and Europe, China is a challenge too big to not mention for Biden in a summit of a security coalition made to counter Chinese expansionist designs in the Indo-Pacific.

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The members of Quad, including India, share concerns about the growing Chinese economic and geopolitical assertiveness. However, India is the only Quad member to share a land boundary/frontier with China. This makes the thesis of ‘geography is destiny’ even more pertinent for New Delhi while dealing with Beijing. Unlike any other constituent member of Quad, India does not enjoy any buffer factor with the Middle Kingdom (after the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1950).

Having said that, when recently Squad emerged in May this year as a coalition between the Philippines, Australia, Japan, and the US, experts like Derek J Grossman said, “India will only go so far in helping Quad to counter China in the South China Sea. New Delhi is more focused on its own neighbourhood. Hence, the US now has an alternate Quad—privately called ‘Squad’—that will do it. Squad replaces India with the Philippines.”

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Further, it cannot be missed that the Quad summit was to happen in India during Biden’s visit to New Delhi as a Republic Day guest—an invitation was confirmed by US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti but did not translate into a visit. Amid many reasons, experts believe one could be the accusation of India’s involvement in a plot to kill US-based Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The summit was then delayed, which is happening now in the US.

Even hours before PM Modi’s arrival, White House officials met pro-Khalistan activists to assure them of “the US government’s commitment to protect Americans (these so-called activists advocating secession of Punjab and other parts of India to create a separate Sikh state) from ‘transnational repression’”. This shows how much the US is concerned about the security interests of India.

Also, the ouster of Sheikh Hasina from Bangladesh recently, shows how the interests of New Delhi and Washington can differ even in India’s own neighbourhood.

Further, there has been persistent pressure on India to abide by the Western sanctions against Russia, despite the India-Russia historic relationship being known to the West. However, the US-led West ignores that in the second quarter of 2024, the European Union actually imported more natural gas from Russia than the US, and Europe still relies on Russia for nearly a fifth of its gas imports.

The words of US Ambassador Eric Garcetti appeared threatening when he said India should not take the ties with the United States ‘for granted’ after PM Modi went to Russia and embraced Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Modi’s visit to Ukraine and hugging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to many as a counterbalance to the reactions India faced from the West post PM’s Russia visit.

The US and India relations have lots of optics to maintain, and so does the fact that both India and the West need each other; not only is India a geopolitically significant partner in the Indo-Pacific for the West to counter China, but India is the only option to avoid pushing Russia completely into the Chinese fold, something that even Russia abhors. India can act as a bridge between the West and Russia, provided that the West appreciates the strategic leverage New Delhi can have in initiating the peace process. (India has already cleared that it is not neutral but on the side of peace from Day 1.) Further, India is the emerging voice of the Global South and a crucial partner to keep in confidence while designing the matrix of the developing world.

Also, the recent meetings of foreign minister S Jaishankar with Chinese politbureau member Wang Yi in July (twice in a single month), and then National Security Advisor Ajit Doval meeting Yi in Russia this month, amid the 30th and 31st meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs, show some thaw in the ties of two Asian giants that were frozen since the Galwan crisis of 2020.

Perhaps domestic economic compulsions might have forced China to rework its diplomatic relations towards India. This might have also been a factor in why US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had a rather ‘successful’ China visit recently.

Next month, Modi will be attending the 16th BRICS summit in Russia, where he may meet both Putin and Xi. This will not go unnoticed by either the West or India’s fellow members in the Quad.

So, while the assumption that the domestic challenges are the reason behind China mending its diplomatic ties with India may stand correct, it is also precise that India’s strategic autonomy requires a tough balancing of its geographical realities, strategic interests, and relations vis-à-vis apparent friends and threats. India must remember that for it, the Quad coalition is rooted in realism, more than an ideational choice. The US has issues with India as well; just that China ones are imminent and intimidating.

Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.