Kumardeep Banerjee
The first in-person Quad summit of leaders from US, Japan, Australia and India focused on using technology to keep the Indo-Pacific region safe, secure, fair and accessible while making similar commitments towards cooperation in space. In more ways than one this marks a new era of partnership and narrative shift for the global order playing out in India's vicinity. It marks the US' willingness to stay relevant in the Asian region, Australia's shift towards more partner countries like India for future growth and reaffirming its commitment towards an US-centric foreign policy, Japan and India playing a decisive role in shaping the global order. Looming against this theatre of strategic partnerships and multilateralism is the shrewd military power of China which forcedall these nations to regroup with fresh energy. If one were to read into the India US joint statement released after the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden, a clear direction for the strategic partners emerges. The two nations committed to enhancing deep collaborations in critical emerging technology such as AI, space, semi-conductors, cybersecurity, 5G and upcoming next-generation mobile communication technologies, blockchain, etc., all of which are critical drivers of 21st century world. The Quad statement made immediately after this bilateral begins by reaffirming “the ways in which technology is designed, developed, governed, and used should be shaped by our shared democratic values and respect for universal human rights”. It further adds that Quad members commit towards” fostering an open, accessible, and secure technology ecosystem, based on mutual trust and confidence”. The verbiage placed right in the beginning of the statement, and the principles focusing on “universal values, trust integrity, resilience, fostering healthy competition and international collaboration to advance frontier of science and technology” are in some way the draft preview to a world for the next century. These Quad nations representing a quarter of the human population and GDP have enough money between them to take on the might of an assertive China in the region.
As some policy makers will point out, China's increased unilateral militaristic attitude post-2017 led to the rebirth of Quad. China, on the one hand, started tying its military ambitions with aid diplomacy (Belt and Road Initiative) while following a similar principle of monopoly in the emerging technology such 5G. It ishere that the four countries' interests converged on strategic, military partnerships. The Quad summit in Washington last week focused on the three Cs — Covid, Climate change and critical technologies – with another big C (China) threatening the emerging consensus in the Indo-Pacific region. It would also be worthwhile mentioning here that a formal statement emerging from Quad has laid a solid foundation for recognition of the Indo-Pacific region as a key gateway for global cooperation and development. The Indo-Pacific is a vast stretch of oceans peppered by some of the largest and prosperousnations in the world. This is a bold new frontier for India, which till a few years back was a silent observerto political and economic groupings similar to Quad It is only after a bitter military standoff with China, that India warmed up and came on board the Quad group negotiations. Another significant aspect of the multilateral group Quad is that it lays down a template for future global cooperation framework at bilateral, multilateral, regional and plurilateral levels. The last century international collaborations were defined by sharing military intelligence and equipment. The new century has new and emerging technologies threatening not just the sea but also space.
(The writer is a policy analyst. The views expressed are personal.)
