Ties to strengthen as India breaks out of neutrality: US

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 1

The US is willing to look at institutionalising the Quad as well as increasing its membership, but termed speculation about it becoming an Indo-Pacific NATO as “loose talk”.

US Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, in a conversation with former US Ambassador to India Richard Verma, revealed the close ties forged by the US with six prominent Asia Pacific countries, including India, may be helpful in moving towards expanding as well as institutionalising the Quad.

Ever since the pandemic broke out, seven Foreign Secretaries, including Harsh Vardhan Shringla, have conversed weekly in a conference call chaired by the US. The other Foreign Secretaries were from Japan, Australia, South Korea, Vietnam and New Zealand.

Describing the group as a “natural grouping of countries”, Biegun hoped they would do their best to advance their combination of interests in the Indo-Pacific. “As the fulcrum of global geopolitics and economics shifts to the Indo-Pacific, our partnership with India has become all the more vital. As with any close partnership, challenges do arise, but with a bit of goodwill, we can overcome any obstacle,” he said.

Foreign Ministers of the Quad countries — S Jaishankar, Mike Pompeo, Maris Payne and Toshimitsu Motegi — are scheduled to meet in Delhi later this year, said Biegun.

There is a temptation in governments to formalise it, but Quad members will be a bit careful in doing that “to make sure everybody’s moving at the same speed”.

“It (institutionalising the Quad) could be something that would be very much worthwhile to be explored. It is not defined solely as an initiative to contain or to defend against China,” he said.

Ties with India, he said, were helped by its own willingness to break out of decades of neutrality and a well-informed caution to extend its interests into the world.

“India recognises that it can’t be a passive player in how that develops throughout the Indo-Pacific. So it’s a real coincidence of a variety of factors,” said the US Foreign Secretary. Speaking at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, he also paid a tribute to former President Pranab Mukherjee. “He’ll go down in history among India’s most distinguished statesmen and scholars,” he said.