Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: By awarding his three Quad partners, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a month before he leaves the White House, outgoing US President Donald Trump may have laid the foundation of an Asian version of NATO.
On Monday, US National Security Advisor Robert O’ Brian presented the prestigious Legion of Merit awards in Washington DC to the Ambassadors of Australia, India and Japan who received these on behalf of Prime Ministers Scott Morrison, Narendra Modi, and ex-PM Shinjo Abe, respectively.
“’Deeply honoured,”, Modi wrote on social media platform after receiving the award. “It recognises the efforts of the people of India & the US to improve bilateral ties, reflected in the bipartisan consensus in both countries about the Indo-US Strategic Partnership,” he said.
Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Indian Ambassador to the United States, accepted the medal on the behalf of Modi.
“The 21st century presents both unprecedented challenges as well as opportunities. The India-US relationship can leverage the vast potential of our people’s unique strengths to provide global leadership for the benefit of entire humanity,” the Prime Minister said.
“On behalf of the 1.3 billion people of India, I reiterate my government’s firm conviction and commitment to continue working with the US government, and all other stakeholders in both countries, for further strengthening India-US ties,” Modi added.
The outbreak of the global pandemic of COVID-19 at Wuhan early this year and subsequent offensives China launched against many countries to divert attention from its accountability, including military action against India, angered international opinion against Beijing.
An angry Trump, who took several measures against an untrustworthy Beijing and also condemned the COVID-19 pandemic’s source as “Chinese virus”, has mainstreamed these partners in what is now known as the Quadrilateral Dialogue, or Quad to safeguard interests of nations in the Indo-Pacific Region.
It is widely viewed as a work-in-progress for the establishment of the Asian NATO. It may be christened as the Indo-Pacific Treaty Organization (IPTO), an alliance of democratic countries against an expansionist dictatorship of China.
US President-elect Joe Biden has also announced to continue Trump’s policies. It means that America will follow what the outgoing President started in a bid to put checks-and-balances vis-à-vis Beijing.
“The Legion of Merit basically mainstreams the Quad Dialogue from an experimental stage, towards institutionalisation of the security architecture. The real father of Quad is China, which forced democracies to cement ties against Beijing’s dictatorship,” a diplomat remarked.
The Dialogue came into existence after China aggravated dispute with Japan over Senkaku Islands, and later with India by sending the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to change the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Eastern Ladakh sector. Beijing also launched verbal attacks against Australia after imposing trade sanctions and testing nuclear missiles during the US naval exercises in the South China Sea.
China claims that the Quad demonstrates a 20th century mind-set. At the same time it has revived its 18th century “Middle Kingdom” objectives through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to gobble up “tributary states” as its revivified imperial project.
The Brussels-based North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), established in 1949, currently has 27 members. It was formed by European and North American countries against expansionist designs of the then Soviet Union, led by the Communist dictator Joseph Stalin.
Its Asian version is expected to be joined by at least a dozen countries threatened by the resurgence of an expansionist and militarist China.
