In order to counter the military expansion of the Chinese Communist Party in the Indo-Pacific region, India has formed a quadrilateral security dialogue with the United States, Japan and Australia, which is said to be a possible Asian version of NATO, but India does not want this, and has invited Russia to join the Indo-Pacific Initiative for balance.
After the Chinese Communist Party has taken more provocative military actions in the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, South China Sea and China-India border in recent years, India has become a key country in this strategy after Japan and the United States proposed the concept of India Pacific Strategy. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) was formed with the U.S., Japan and Australia to counter the expansion of the Chinese Communist Party.
Especially recently, it is rumored that the Quadripartite Security Dialogue intends to expand into the Quadripartite Dialogue Plus to expand the democratic camp to confront the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party’s intention to change the mainstream of democracy in the world, and India is actively strengthening defense cooperation with France and other European countries, and France is also leading a joint “La Perouse” (La Perouse) with the naval forces of the four Quadripartite Security Dialogue countries in the Bay of Bengal from 5 to 7. The joint military exercise “La Perouse” (La Perouse) with the four naval forces of the Quadripartite Security Dialogue was held in the Bay of Bengal from 5 to 7, allowing the democratic force against autocracy to expand.
Japan Takushoku University Overseas Situation Research Institute Director Kawakami Koji even commented on the above “La Perouse” joint military exercises that the joint military exercises can be seen as Quad as the core, trying to expand the collective security system radially, and the Biden administration “emphasis on allies This is in line with the Biden administration’s attitude of “attaching importance to alliances” and may develop into an Asian version of NATO in the future to counterbalance the Chinese Communist Party.
The Chinese Communist Party and Russia are also concerned about whether the Quadripartite Security Dialogue will expand into an Asian version of NATO. however, predicting that the Quadripartite Security Dialogue will develop into an Asian version of NATO seems to fail to understand India’s true thinking and is overly optimistic.
India, which has long followed a non-aligned foreign policy since the Cold War era of the U.S. and the Soviet Union, has emphasized that its non-aligned stance since the era of the late Prime Minister Nehru will not change, even after the standoff between Chinese and Indian troops in Donglang in 2017 and the worst bloodshed in 45 years in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June last year.
Although many Indian think-tank scholars and Indian media have written articles calling for India to strengthen cooperation with the United States, Taiwan and other democratic camps to counter the expansion of the Chinese Communist Party, and even calling on the Indian Foreign Ministry to abandon the “outdated policy of the Nehru era” and rethink the “Chinese Communist challenge”. The Ministry of External Affairs of India has even called on the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to abandon its “outdated Nehru-era policy” and revive its alliance with the democratic camp by developing a new policy from the perspective of the “Chinese Communist challenge.
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has reiterated in his new book and on several public occasions that he will never be part of an alliance system. Nor has the Indian government played the Tibet card or expanded relations with Taiwan as a strategy to confront the Chinese Communist Party, as academics have advocated.
People familiar with Taiwan-India relations say that the biggest change in the Indian foreign ministry after the deadly clashes between India and China in Ladakh is that whenever there was cooperation between Taiwan and India in the past, or even just technology transfer or general exchanges of non-political and military sensitivity, the Indian government would intervene to stop these activities before they started with “consideration of Chinese factors”. Now, although it does not “oppose every Taiwan-India cooperation”, it still limits bilateral relations to attracting Taiwanese investment and exchanges in education, culture and traditional medicine.
What’s more, India has recently invited Russia, which has openly opposed the Indo-Pacific strategy, to join the Indo-Pacific Initiative structure in order to show its non-aligned attitude that is not swayed by major powers.
In a bilateral meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in New Delhi on June 6, Su Jaisheng took the initiative to share India’s Indo-Pacific perspective, emphasizing that the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPI) proposed by India at the East Asia Summit is based on the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Initiative. He emphasized that the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPI), which India proposed at the East Asia Summit, is an Indo-Pacific structure with ASEAN as its centerpiece, implying to Russia that India’s Indo-Pacific perspective is not U.S.-led and expects Russian participation.
Lavrov said publicly after the meeting that Russia and India are in the same position, promoting alliances between the Middle East and NATO, Asia and NATO is “counterproductive”, Russia is interested in inclusive cooperation, “not against a particular country”, Su Jaisheng also acquiesced.
The diplomats in New Delhi, who did not want to be named, believe that this means that India is still adhering to its non-aligned position, playing a balancing act, trying to bring Russia, which is friendly with China, into the Indo-Pacific initiative, diluting the leading role of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region and the Quadripartite Security Dialogue, with the intention of blurring the outside world’s perception that the Indo-Pacific strategy and the Quadripartite Security Dialogue are aimed at tyrannical China.
According to Namrata Hasija, a researcher at the Center for China Analysis and Strategy, an Indian think tank, India has always adhered to the principles of non-alignment and independent diplomacy, even in the face of Chinese Communist “aggression,” India’s cooperation with the United States and other countries, or its participation in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. Even in the face of Chinese Communist “aggression,” India’s cooperation with the United States and other countries, or participation in the Quadripartite Security Dialogue and the Indo-Pacific Initiative, are “strategic partners, not alliances,” and therefore will not support the Quadripartite Security Dialogue to become the Asian version of NATO.
Hina Xia points out that India’s current policy will, of course, be adjusted depending on how much pressure the Chinese Communist Party exerts on countries in the future.
What is certain, however, is that whether India will support and join the U.S.-led Asian version of NATO, or make significant changes to Taiwan’s expanded cooperation, if held, remains to be carefully scrutinized by policymakers.
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