New Delhi and Beijing can build bridges despite the QUAD

The shift from ‘Asia-Pacific’ to ‘Indo-Pacific’ is the story of the QUAD, ie, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which is a coalition of four like-minded democracies: India, Australia, USA, and Japan. Being formalised as a grouping last year in Manila, QUAD symbolises the changing geopolitics of the international order at large and the Indo-Pacific region, in particular. The term ‘Indo-Pacific’ symbolises India’s rise as an emerging power in the international system.

This has come at a time when there is a friction between China and the members of the QUAD in the Pacific region, especially USA and Japan. China’s meteoric rise in the international system as a challenger to US supremacy has alerted policymakers in Washington. India, on its part, is playing its cards carefully. It is using deft diplomacy to ensure that it continues to have a successful multi-vector foreign policy. Its participation in the QUAD is certainly not a measure to contain China.

However, India’s membership in this grouping has certainly made both Russia and China uneasy as they have conflicting interests with other members of the QUAD who are seen by them as a part of the US bloc. India’s foreign policy history has shown that since independence, the country has shunned bloc politics. The ‘tilts’ and ‘inclinations’ have always been there, but India has consistently kept itself non-aligned. Therefore, India’s membership in QUAD should not be seen as a threat to anyone.

India is playing a constructive role in the QUAD as it is interested in the areas of connectivity and development, regional security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HARD) and maritime cooperation. These key focus areas were discussed when senior officials of QUAD countries held consultations in Singapore on June 7, 2018; just days after PM Modi delivered his keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue. The issues of common interest between the QUAD members include their support for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific so that a rules-based order in the region is established.

India is taking QUAD quite seriously for its own self-interests. This was seen earlier this year as well during the Raisina Dialogue at New Delhi where the Chiefs of Naval Staff of all four QUAD members were invited to a panel discussion. The panel agreed unanimously on the fact that China’s growing power in the South and East China Sea needs to be checked. The Chief of US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, remarked that China is a disruptive power in the Indo-Pacific region.

Statements like these have naturally raised suspicions in the minds of China and Russia who, anyway, have serious apprehensions regarding the nature and character of QUAD. Since India didn’t support or refute such a statement, it was perceived that New Delhi was giving silent support to the position taken by US vis-à-vis China. India, aware of the power asymmetries that exist between New Delhi and Beijing, doesn’t want a confrontation with China on yet another issue. China’s maritime silk route is already posing a challenge to India and, therefore, the latter is looking for a way to establish a strategic consonance with other members of QUAD, which is not necessarily a measure to antagonise China. In fact, India’s initiative SAGAR (Security and Growth for all in the Region) is about establishing maritime cooperation with neighbouring countries. However, China has kept its reservations about QUAD and has tried to downplay the formation and sustainability of this grouping.

India has tried to reach out to both Russia and China in the last few months when PM Modi went to Wuhan in April and to Sochi in May for informal summits to clear out its position on crucial matters of common concerns. PM Modi again met his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the SCO summit on June 9. The beauty of Indian foreign policy is that it has been reaching out to different groupings and different countries with equal enthusiasm. This can be observed by the fact that on one hand, India is a member of SCO while on the other side, it as a part of QUAD as well.

The permutations and combinations of international relations are extremely complex and things can’t be always seen in black and white. To sum up, India can co-exist and cooperate with China despite being a crucial member of QUAD.

The author is a junior research fellow at the School of International Studies, JNU. Views are personal.