At QUAD India Shines

Global order is going through immense change. It can be witnessed from the growing concern in the international community to address the emerging threats that are posing severe challenges to the international security and territorial integrity of the nations. It is in this context that the announcement of the Quad group of countries must be seen. The countries that comprise Quad include India, US, Japan and Australia respectively. Quad has ended its indecision to formulate its policy to counter China. Without directly naming China, these countries have asserted and declared their resolve to pose a united front to counter the imperialist designs of the dragon in the Indo-Pacific. It has decided to train the smaller countries besides sharing of the data to add another layer to remain relevant in maritime security. The Quad leaders summit at Wilmington came up with the “Wilmington Declaration.” Underlining the imperative of the Quad, the declaration has said, “Four years since elevating it to a leader-level format, the Quad is more strategically aligned than ever before and is a force for good that delivers real, positive and enduring impact for the Indo-Pacific.” The significant achievement for India has been its recognition as the emerging world leader. It can be internalised from the acknowledgement of the Indian contribution to world peace by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war has been highly applauded by the US President Joe Biden. Quad leaders have taken the situation emerging in the East China Sea and the South China Sea as coercive and intimidating. To restore peace and stability in terms of maritime security the quad statement has enumerated the joint initiative that will be a collaborative venture of the member states. It will be known as “Quad at Sea”. This initiative comes after the Chinese maritime militia carried out the fierce manoeuvres in the vicinity of the Philippines vessels. Not only that, the Quad also announced a training module termed as “Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific” (MAITRI).This initiative will have many layers of technology allowing the nations to secure their maritime boundaries. India is going to host the first workshop on this initiative in 2025.Quad has also articulated the desire for the expansion of the permanent seats in the Security Council to include the representatives from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Caribbean. This is indeed a positive move as it has mentioned Asia. It is an indicator for the inclusion of India. India’s presence at the Quad and the appreciation of the Prime Minister Modi’s influence to restore peace and stability in the world is indeed a good sign for Indian rise in the comity of nations. Quad also condemned the Mumbai terrorist attack and then the Pathankot attack as well. It stressed on the implementation of the sanctions in terms of 1267 as stipulated in the UN Security Council for stopping terrorism. This is indeed a straight castigation of Pakistan. From the meeting one thing is clear that India has been able to drive home the point that Pakistan and China are working in tandem to pose a serious threat to territorial integrity and sovereignty of India. By securing the support of the Quad nations at the international level under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India has been able to sensitise the world community about the challenges being faced by India. This punctures the Pakistani and Chinese propaganda to challenge Indian sovereignty and territorial integrity.