The QUAD and AUKUS

07 Mar The QUAD and AUKUS

The QUAD and AUKUS – Today Current Affairs

(GS Paper-II, Polity,Constitution,Governance,Social Justice and International Relations) 

Source: The Hindu

Why in News? Thew Hindu Analysis

The Quad grouping (India,U.S.,Australia,Japan) has been equated with that of AUKUS (Australia, U.K., U.S.) by China and called both of them as part of the Biden administration’s ill-intentioned Indo-Pacific strategy.

The QUAD – Today Current Affairs

• It was initiated by Japan, US, India and Australia in 2007 but it re-emerged in 2017.
• The gap of 10 years strengthened the coordination among the four members through various political, diplomatic and military agreements.
• In this time period these countries also experienced increasing wider Chinese expansionism and offensive posture in the Indo Pacific making them all restless. 
  • Because of this these countries through Quad aimed at promoting free, open rule based order in the region.
• The Quad declared that:
  • The Indo Pacific region is an inclusive, healthy anchored by democratic value and and constrained by coercion
  • To Promote a free, open rule based order rooted in international law to advance security and prosperity, counter threats to both in the Indo Pacific and beyond
  • Extend the acquired cooperation in areas of health, climate change, critical technologies, counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief including maritime domain
• The Japanese Prime Minister has called Quad a democratic security diamond.
  • In the light of the dispute in East and South China Sea, Japan envisaged a strategy whereby the quad countries form a diamond to safeguard the maritime common stretching from the region of Indian Ocean to the western Pacific.
• India’s ministerial level 2+2 dialogue with the US, Japan and Australia have added stability in the multilateral network among the Quad nations.
• In 2020 India has signed the basic exchange and cooperation agreement for geospatial cooperation with the US, included Australia in Malabar military exercise and signed a mutual logistics support arrangement with Japan.
  • Further India has reiterated in the ministerial meeting in 2020 that India is committed to upholding the rule based international order underpinned by the rule of law, transparency, freedom to navigate in the international seas, respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty and peaceful resolution of disputes.
• The High Commissioner of Australia to India has said that India is clearly the natural leader in the region in terms of the vision the Quad signs up to in the Indo-Pacific region.
  • MILAN, multi-nation defence exercise, held in Visakhapatnam demonstrates the cooperation across countries in the Indo-Pacific to secure a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

The AUKUS – Today Current Affairs

• The trilateral defence partnership, AUKUS between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States has reaffirmed the importance of the Indo Pacific region in contemporary great power politics.
• The transferring of closely-guarded technologies for artificial intelligence and the manufacture of nuclear-powered submarines under Aukus by the US to Australia is significant for the region.
• The PRC makes use of diplomatic, military, and technological prowess to establish or nurture its own sphere of influence and emerge as the world’s most influential power.
  • It is important to use all instruments of power to deter aggression and to counter coercion by advancing integrated deterrence, deepening cooperation and enhancing interoperability.

Issues of China: The Hindu Analysis

• In the beginning China has dismissed the Quad as “sea foam” that would fade away with time.
• But due to growing closeness and widening scope that has seen the four countries begin to work together on a range of initiatives from vaccines to critical technology, Beijing has stepped up its criticism.
• China is of the view that the so-called Quad group cobbled together by the U.S, Japan, India and Australia is essentially a tool for containing and besieging China to maintain U.S. hegemony.
• Some experts have said that the quad is the Asian NATO formed against China’s aggression in the region and China also held it as ‘Axis of democracies’ against Beijing’s interests

Future Course of Action: The Hindu Analysis

• In order to take benefit from the changing geopolitical scenario, there is a need for India to overcome its maritime challenges.
• The external affairs minister has talked about an attempt to frame India’s strategic interest and a blow to the Indo Pacific in Kautilyan terms.
• The efforts are being made to understand how people’s security and well-being hinges on developments in the Indo Pacific and outlines the dynamics of India’s continental and maritime mandalas.
• Further it highlights the ways for India to maintain security and achieve economic prosperity through strategies that are essentially Kautilyan: bring about cooperation, inculcate partnerships, and enhance domestic capability.

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Vivek Raj