Author: C. Raja Mohan
Affiliation: Asia Society Policy Institute, former member of India’s National Security Advisory Board
Organization /Publisher: Foreign Policy
Date/Place: May 17, 2022/ USA
Type of Literature: Analysis
Word Count: 1731
Link: https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/05/17/india-china-quad-summit-modi-xi-biden/
Keywords: Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), China, India, United States
Brief:
The article discusses China’s concerns regarding the Tokyo summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the grouping of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. The author says that China’s assessment of the Quad is unnecessarily alarmist because Beijing has long lived with US alliances and hard security commitments on its periphery. However, the author highlights two factors that can be worrisome. First, India’s sheer size and potential power shape China’s strategic periphery. Second, Beijing is playing to the gallery of entrenched anti-American sentiment in New Delhi that insists on Asian solidarity and avoidance of Western coalitions. India’s relationship with the quad partners is problematic, and Chinese scholars predict that China’s aggressive actions on the border are driving India closer to the United States. The official Chinese position, which its Foreign Minister Wang Yi repeated during his visit to India in March, is that the countries’ border tensions should be kept separate from the larger challenges of building a multipolar world that limits US power. However, India insists that resolving border tensions must precede cooperation with China on larger issues. Similarly, Beijing’s new Global Security Initiative—designed to counter US global influence—has drawn little interest in New Delhi. The author concludes that the rivalry between India and China is structural and unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. China could break the logjam on the border but is unwilling to let go of its only strategic leverage against India. For India, the trick is to move slowly while strengthening its regional position. India’s tactics are wrapped in incrementalism, but its strategic imperative lies in deeper cooperation with the United States.
By: Razia Wadood, CIGA Senior Research Associate
