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China’s Concerns on Quad

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November 07, 2019

What is the issue?

  • In a recent speech, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the “Quad” would ensure that “China retains only its proper place in the world”.
  • In this context, here is a look at China’s concerns about the “Quad.”

What is Quad?

  • “Quad” is a multilateral grouping among Japan, Australia, India and the United States.
  • Quad convened recently at the level of senior officials on the margins of the East Asia Summit in Bangkok.
  • Nuanced differences among the Quad countries seem to have narrowed down in the last 2 years.
  • There are common references to the creation of a free, open and inclusive regional architecture, rules-of-the-road, freedom of navigation and over-flight, and, ASEAN centrality.

What is China’s views on the Quad?

  • There is a general understanding that the Quad would not take on a military dimension against any country.
  • The strategic community in China, nevertheless, had branded it an emerging “Asian NATO”.
  • Notably, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s “Confluence of Two Seas” address to the Indian Parliament gave a fresh impetus to the Quad concept.
  • He had recently spoken of a new definition of a “broader Asia” taking shape at the confluence of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
  • This recognised the economic rise of India.
  • It also brought Japan and India together as part of an immense network spanning the entirety of the Pacific Ocean, the US and Australia.
  • It was seen as an open and transparent network that would allow people, goods, capital, and knowledge to flow freely.

What are China’s key concerns?

  • Beginning with maritime-centric concerns, Quad was gradually seen by China as a means to an end.
  • China sees Quad as involving the use of the wider Indo-Pacific theatre to target China.
  • It believes that the concept of the Indo-Pacific, and more particularly the Quad, is a plot by the US aimed at containing China’s rise.
  • It is particularly seen as opposing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), questioning its developmental finance and connectivity projects.
  • Quad is seen as the foundation for a military alliance to undermine China’s future.
  • China, notably, remains wedded to “Asia-Pacific” for building an inclusive regional cooperative structure.
  • So, for China, a switch to “Indo-Pacific” implies an erosion of its pre-eminence.
  • In this backdrop, China sees ASEAN centrality as an opportunity to steer the Indo-Pacific away from a security agenda focused on China.

What are China’s plans in this regard?

  • Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s recent remarks to foreign and Chinese journalists gains importance in the above context.
  • His five-point formula entailed -
    1. making greater efforts to work together on the BRI
    2. forging China-ASEAN digital cooperation, including in 5G
    3. fully implementing the China-ASEAN FTA
    4. finalising regional rules-of-the-road based on the negotiating text of the Code of Conduct (proposed by China)
    5. engaging in joint maritime exercises (already undertaken between China and ASEAN in October 2018)
  • China has also signed bilateral agreements with ASEAN countries to advance transportation routes.
  • These include the existing economic corridors, China-Thailand Railway, China-Laos Railway and Jakarta-Bandung high-speed Railway.

Where does India stand in this?

  • India’s commitment to “strategic autonomy” has generally proved reassuring to China.
  • It suggests that India would never agree to fully align itself with the US against China.
  • The recent Mamallapuram summit between President Xi Jinping and PM Modi is a positive development.
  • China is, however, worried about the advantages that the Quad process might offer to India in the Indo-Pacific.
  • Much, though, will depend on China’s actions and how others perceive her capabilities and intentions.

 

Source: Indian Express

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