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Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 20
The US and Japan are poised to provide additional thrust to a four-member grouping of democracies that aims to balance China as well as keep the Indo-Pacific region stable, according to sources.
Before their next meeting, this four-country US-Japan-Australia-India grouping will explore the prospects of an expansion. The countries in their sights are Vietnam, the Philippines and New Zealand. Singapore is very nearly a co-opted member after it developed close military ties with India.
The politically pleasing appellate of the Quad as a grouping of democracies against a single-party ruled China will be lost if Vietnam is included. The Quad may be willing to live with that if Hanoi enthusiastically endorses its theme of preserving the existing order in the shipping lanes of Indo-Pacific instead of allowing China to achieve parity or gain the upper hand.
The issue was discussed during Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale’s recent visit to Washington and both sides agreed on the need to induct more Indo-Pacific partners. It is too early to say whether the new members will be inducted as formal members or encouraged to achieve seamlessness in maritime operations separately as India does.
It be further refined when the principals meet — the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe visits Washington next week while US President Donald Trump will be in Japan in May. All heads of government of this grouping, including the Indian Prime Minister, will get to exchange views in June on the sidelines of the G-20 summit on Osaka, Japan.
The current accent on Quad seems to be hold meetings among middle-ranking diplomats from the US, Japan, India and Australia. The Quad had held a joint naval exercise of the four countries over a decade ago. But the furious Chinese reaction at that time has led to finessing of the strategy. India holds two separate naval exercises — one with the US-Japan combine and another with Australia.
India’s two separate naval exercises do not raise Chinese eyebrows and are as good as holding a four-country exercise because the US, Japan and Australia have common procedures and military hardware.
Sources pointed out that the latest endorsement of a bigger alliance for a stable Indo-Pacific has come from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The aim, they said, is to use their combined resources to enhance their visibility in the region as well as act as a deterrent against Chinese intimidation.
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