New Delhi: The world is slowly healing back from the worst onslaught of nature’s fury in the last 100 years. Post Covid-19, the world will no longer be the same. A new world order will emerge in the 21st Century, standing over the ruins of Corona.
Based on experiences of mutual trust and friendship during this unforeseen pandemic, the nation states will align themselves again. Those who could not manage the pandemic well will go down in the world order and countries like India who first arrested the spread of the disease amongst its 130 crore population, recovered quickly from the economic downfall and managed the vaccination drive so well, will get new friends and partners as an emerging superpower. India under our dynamic PM has mastered the art of converting threats into opportunities. It has been proved well during the Covid crisis management.
China’s ambition of becoming the most powerful superpower in the 21st Century received a setback owing to the Covid crisis. In frustration or in pursuit of ‘The Chinese Dream’, the PRC may now resort to more aggressive arm-twisting behaviour as it has shown in recent times. The onus falls on like-minded democracies to resist this and build a new multipolar world order. An institutionalised QUAD working as a political, economic and security alliance will certainly keep Beijing’s aspirations in check. In all this, India is emerging as a key player in formation of the new world order based on the principles of mutual trust, respect and partnership.
In the past eighteen months, there has been a series of interesting developments defining the contours of the emerging new world order. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) has now emerged as a crucial alliance and a countervailing force to the increased belligerence and hegemony of China. In the recently held virtual summit of the Heads of States in March 2021, the contours of future cooperation were given out in a joint statement. It pointed out the “Shared vision for the free and open Indo-Pacific” and their commitment to “Strive for a region that is free, open, inclusive, healthy, anchored by democratic values, and unconstrained by coercion”. These clearly indicate the objectives of the Quad.
In order to become a superpower alliance like erstwhile NATO, it’s important that a long-term perspective plan with a roadmap be put in place by Quad members. The Quad should emerge as a cohesive alliance largely related to political, economic and military might. A new beginning has been made by sharing production, transportation and usage of the India-made Covaxin vaccine between the Quad nations. Similar areas of mutual cooperation and trust-building, other than defence, with a win-win equation could be worked out. New vistas can be opened up in trade and manufacturing with Japanese technologies, Indian manufacturing resources, American minds and Australian lines of communications.
The military value of Quad would be faster and easier to evolve since the economic aspect has far too many imponderables. A beginning could be made with the political and military aspects of the Quad. In the coming months, the Quad may formulate a military-to-military programme and exercises. Present day bilateral or multilateral exercises in the Indo-pacific region could be held within the charter of Quad and formalised to make them a regular feature. The other areas of military convergence can be intelligence sharing, technology transfer, joint defence production, logistics basing, communication protocols and perception management.
Today our Indian defence industries are getting into strategic partnerships as outlined in our “Atmanirbhar Bharat” campaign. This presents an exquisite opportunity for all Quad countries to build production bases in India. The defence industrial base would lay down the inspiration for further economic activity in other areas of the industry.
The seat of power is shifting from Europe to Asia in the 21st Century. The world is also changing from unipolar to multipolar with friendly alliances challenging the hegemony of superpowers. In essence, the clear message of the Quad to China is to stop coercion and accept international law and norms for a free, open and inclusive usage of the Indo-Pacific region. If China continues with its belligerence, the Quad will be in a position to take appropriate steps to counter such moves. The actualisation of Quad appears to be a turning point in the narrative of the world order. It certainly positions India in a pivotal role in Asia and enhances its image in the new world order of this century.
-The views expressed by the author are personal.
