The United States, Japan, Australia and India meet at the same table on Tuesday, May 24 in Tokyo, for a meeting of the “Quad”, the name of the informal alliance formed by these four countries.
For the United States, to lead the “competition” against China
US President Joe Biden is part of this summit. For the boss of the White House, the main objective of this trip is to close ranks against the Chinese giant.
The Eunited states , of course, had been focused for weeks on the war in Ukraine. However, the Washington’s top geostrategic priority remains China. Joe Biden has not made it a mystery since the beginning of his presidency, qsometimes results in harm to certain partners. The famous submarine affair is an example of this: this super contract lost by France to Australia, one of the major players in the Indo-Pacific.
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Add Japan and India to it and you have the actors of a regional alliance that Joe Biden wishes to strengthen to counterbalance the Chinese giant in strategic and economic matters. “The world is changing and we are engaged in a crucial competition” with Beijing. This is what Joe Biden said after the departure of the last soldier from Afghanistan.
The showdown between Americans and Chinese revolves around Taiwan, main point of tension currently in the region. China is stepping up military maneuvers around this island that it claims. beijing “flirts with danger”Joe Biden said Monday, May 23, assuring that the United States would defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion.
The Pentagon quickly tempered the president’s enthusiasm: Washington, officially, does not consider Taiwan to be a sovereign state. On the other hand, the United States provides him with the means to defend himself. Be that as it may, the Ukrainian conflict has shown that the United States can always mobilize a good part of its allies. This is the implicit message sent these days to Beijing: don’t do like Moscow, or you will suffer the consequences.
India, a country that stands out within the Quad
India stands out within this alliance: it is the only one of the 4 countries not to have strongly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, this dispute no longer seems to hamper the discussions, and New Delhi to continue its strategic rapprochement with Washington.
The United States did everything to alter the Indian position on Ukraine: high-ranking diplomats came to New Delhi and in March Joe Biden even spoke of India as a partner “brittle”. But the Indian power held firm, reaffirmed its non-aligned position on this conflict, in order to spare Russia, which supplied it with most of its armament.
The two countries then seem to accept their disagreement, in order to face their common adversary, China. The American president has just declared that “the United States wanted to have one of the closest relations in the world with India”.
India is indeed one of the Quad countries most directly threatened by the expansionism of China, whose military has attempted several dangerous incursions along their common Himalayan border. It is therefore obvious that India needs the United States to push back Beijing diplomatically, even militarily, because New Delhi imports more and more American weapons.
However, the Ukrainian episode reminds the Indians that Washington will always seek to impose its views and interests, and that it is important for New Delhi to diversify its alliances.