India should forge multilateral partnerships like Quad to thwart China's threat: Experts

Laying emphasis on the brazen military movements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the scale of the challenge posed by China, security experts have suggested that India must adopt a more aggressive approach towards forging geo-strategic multilateral partnerships like ‘Quad’ to make use of its full potential in suppressing the dragon.

The views were expressed on Saturday by a group of panellists including former Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba during an exchange held virtually on the second day of the Military Literary Festival 2020 on The Quad: The Emerging Indo-Pacific Naval Alliance.

Sharing his thoughts on the same, noted defence commentator C Raja Mohan said the country must learn from the past and not let academic debates about alliances tarnish its judgment about the extraordinary economic and security challenges faced by India.

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"India cannot remain neutral anymore"

India faces growing threats and it needs more partnerships than it has ever needed before globally, Mohan said while pointing out India’s traditional reluctance to be an active Quadrilateral Security Dialogue partner due to fear of being perceived as taking a side.

Highlighting the changed global scenario where India cannot remain neutral anymore, the expert said, “We have to move on much faster on multiple fronts while strengthening Quad and enhancing other regional mechanisms.”

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“The way China threatens us today requires us to dynamically improve national economic capacity, not only the military capability, in partnerships with intensive international coalitions for which Quad could be the central fulcrum for the time being,” he added.

'Quad' is a group of four nations comprising India, US, Japan and Australia which was suggested by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007, with an aim to establish coordination among the four democracies. During the 2004 Tsunami, the ambitious grouping went into limbo owing to Australia’s reluctance to antagonise China then. The prominence of Quad in recent years has been seen as a response to China’s assertiveness in the region.

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Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan (Retired) said China considers India as one of its targets of military assertion, a challenge our establishment has in comfortably dealing with. “We need to have a nimble asymmetric strategy and must manoeuvre our strengths to best of our capabilities in thwarting China,” he added.

Emphasising that China has been weaponizing its economic prominence to saddle other countries, he said India cannot be picky while entering alliances. Chauhan was referring to China-backed trade agreement Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

“The decision of India to stay out of the RCEP is incorrect and not in line with keeping the high ambitions to match geo-strategic goals. We need bold steps across the board to counter rising China”, he added. Saran said India has moved to clarify the accord but more participation will be better for a future course, possibly alluding to ASEAN member countries.

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(With inputs from PTI)