India should increase cooperation with QUAD to bring China to its senses

Chandigarh: Former Navy Chief and defence analysts are suggesting that India should increase its cooperation with QUAD, to bring China to its senses. Till date, India has avoided hurting China, adopting a non-alignment policy. All these people believe that when China is making aggressive military movements against India, India is left with no option but to take cooperation from other countries. This was said by the former Navy Chief, defence analysts and politicians participating in the Military Literature Festival.

In 2007, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe first presented the concept of QUAD cooperation between the democratic countries India, Japan, the United States and Australia. In the beginning, India avoided hurting China, by refraining from actively participating in the QUAD cooperation. Former Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba pointed out that in 2017, the aggressive Chinese stance became more intense and increased the importance of QUAD. Whereas, C. Raja Mohan, Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore and a renowned analyst gave a piece of frank advice that India needs to learn from the past experiences.

C. Raja Mohan inferred ‘In the current times, threats are increasing for India. Therefore, the need for defence cooperation with other countries has increased in today’s time. Therefore, India will have to make rapid moves, on multiple fronts, to increase cooperation with QUAD and other regional organisations. India cannot afford the non-alignment policy in current times. In view of the way China is threatening India, India will have to increase not only military but also its economic capacity.’

Raja Mohan added that QUAD should become the centre of increasing defence cooperation with the other countries, against China. Whereas, Pradeep Chauhan, former Vice-Admiral of the Indian Navy, accused that China is looking at India as a target. Therefore, Vice Admiral Chauhan claimed that India needs to have a policy ready against China.

Meanwhile, Indian defence analysts and former military officials are repeatedly warning the government regarding China. After the Galwan conflict, India initiated aggressive moves against China. Before that, India had refrained from taking a bold stand against China. But the Indian Foreign Minister recently indicated that China has created losses for itself by initiating the dispute on the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and this has resulted in extreme anger in the minds of the Indian population against China. Saying that the Chinese efforts over so many decades, to win the Indian confidence have gone waste, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar pointed out the reality to China.