Page 12 - The Indian EYE 040122

OpINION APRIL 01, 2022 | The Indian Eye 12

IndIa, Quad and

tHe ukraInIan CrIsIs

Quad has come of age to develop a shared understanding of each country’s positions in peculiar cases. So far,

the events suggest that there are differences among the Quad members, but they know how to get over them

NIRANJAN CHANDRASHEKHAR OAK Quad? It argues that the Quad has a others. collective resources and capabilities
minimal role over the Ukrainian cri- After a decade, the Quad re- for a larger public good.
rime Minister Narendra Modi sis, and that events occurring out of emerged in 2017 in response to an In the security domain, the Quad
joined a virtual meeting of the the geographic and functional man- all-encompassing Chinese challenge countries have been coming togeth-
PQuad leaders on 3 March 2022, date of the Quad should not impact in the Indo-Pacific. The four maritime er for joint naval exercises under the
along with his counterparts from the the functioning of the grouping. nations—India, the US, Japan and banner of Malabar. The four coun-
US, Japan and Australia. The pur- Even China thought its partner- Australia—on the four flanks of the tries have the bilateral logistics sup-
pose of the meeting was to review the ship with India and Russia in a “small maritime continuum called Indo-Pa- port agreements with one another.
progress on Quad initiatives since the clique” would best serve its interests cific thought themselves to be best Moreover, the countries are closely
September 2021 Quad Summit, to re- in the post-Cold War world. In recent suited to ensure stability in the region. cooperating in sensitive information
affirm their commitment towards the years, the region has seen a flurry of The shared interests and values fur- sharing. Thus, the Quad is proving to
Indo-Pacific and also to discuss the minilaterals such as India–Japan– ther complimented the four-legged be a platform for the constituents to
Ukrainian crisis. The joint statement Australia trilateral, India–US–Japan minilateral on achieving its primary align their strategies to keep the re-
released after the meeting was large- trilateral, India–Sri Lanka–Maldives goal in the region. During Tsunami, in gion inclusive, open and stable with-
ly focused on the Indo-Pacific, along trilateral, India–France–Australia tri- 2004, the countries had demonstrated out getting into the formal alliance.
with a reference to the Ukrainian lateral, and the Quad, among many how effectively they could pool their Lack of alliance has offered necessary
crisis. Three of the four Quad mem- space for each participant to take an
bers—the US, Japan and Austra- independent stand on the issue of
lia—have taken an overtly critical their interests. The Quad has been
stand towards Russia at the United conveying its perspective on regional
Nations (UN). In contrast, India has matters through individual readouts
abstained from all the UN resolutions and, of late, through joint readouts.
condemning Russia. The decision has However, it must be underlined that
made India stand apart from the rest the very genesis of the Quad is at-
in the Quad, raising the question of tributed to the challenges emanating
whether such a position would create out of the region and the need to pre-
wedges in the minilateral grouping. serve stable and balanced regional or-
Against this backdrop, the issue brief der. The grouping is firmly rooted in
critically analyses the salient features the Indo-Pacific.
of the Quad Joint Readout and looks The joint readout after the Quad
at the impact of the Ukrainian crisis leaders’ virtual meeting accommo-
on the Quad. It examines whether dates the interests of all the four
the perception that there exist big countries. The first part of the state-
differences within the Quad is true. ment was dedicated to the Indo-Pa-
Should India be looked at as a weak cific, while the latter had references
link in the Quad? Will divergent views Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the QuAD Summit in Washington last year (ANI) to the Ukrainian crisis. According to
over the Ukrainian crisis weaken the Continued at next page... >>

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