It has been a busy week for India in the Indo-Pacific region. External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar traveled to Japan for the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and Laos for the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
In addition, Jaishankar had a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during his visit to Laos. This was their second meeting, having already met in Astana earlier this year.
Jaishankar’s visit was framed by India’s persistent retaliation against China in strategic areas of national concern. China is still perhaps India’s top concern when it comes to national security planning. The unresolved border dispute along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and Beijing’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean are just two of India’s many challenges from China.
China’s more recent moves in the Indo-Pacific, particularly around the South China Sea, have also forced India’s Quad partners and a number of Southeast Asian nations to step up their countermeasures against Beijing. Therefore, Jaishankar’s focus on the China issue was inevitable during his visits to Japan and Laos.
QUAD concerned over Chinese moves
The four participating nations of the Quad Foreign Ministers’ conference issued a single statement that comprehensively addressed their shared concerns regarding China’s aggressive posture in the Indo-Pacific. The Quad members have long rejected the idea that the organization’s creation aims to oppose Beijing, emphasizing that its goal is to take advantage of the new potential for cooperative efforts in the Indo-Pacific. That being said, it is indisputable that the China factor is an important component of the Quad wheel.
The Quad countries’ most recent joint statement makes it clear that worries about China’s actions in the Indo-Pacific are at the forefront of the group’s considerations. The joint statement alluded to China’s unilateral activities through the use of force and coercion and voiced worries about the changing situation in the East and South China Seas. The statement denounced, without specifying specifics, Beijing’s deployment of marine militia and coast guard in the South China Sea, linking it to “dangerous manoeuvres” in the region.
Jaishankar’s personal comments regarding the status of relations between China and India have attracted additional attention. When asked about India’s relationship with China, Jaishankar said categorically that the two countries’ bilateral relations are ‘not going very well’. Considering the border clashes and fighting that have occurred since 2020, this revelation seems to confirm the continuation of India’s persistent resistance against China. But in the context of the Indo-Pacific, India’s strategy toward China seems to be changing. Historically, India’s reaction to China’s assertive approaches in the Indo-Pacific region has been comparatively restrained. Instead, Jaishankar’s recent remarks during the Quad meeting and the joint statement show that India is prepared to confront China in the Indo-Pacific region.
India aim to protect strategic interests against China
What, therefore, accounts for India’s resistance to China’s unilateral actions in the South China Sea? The topography of the South China Sea is important for India’s several strategic objectives, including energy security and the defense of Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs), even if it is not the country’s principal maritime region of interest. Furthermore, New Delhi must react forcefully to Chinese attempts to alter the status quo in the area given India’s persistent advocacy for a free, open, inclusive, and rules-based order at sea and its emphasis on adherence to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
In the broader Indo-Pacific, the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) impending launch of carrier task force patrols in the Indian Ocean by 2025 has created an ongoing security challenge for New Delhi due to China’s ongoing efforts to expand its influence in the region. More recently, China has sent survey and surveillance vessels into the Indian Ocean. Raising the stakes against China in the Indo-Pacific, then, seems like a sensible next step in India’s ongoing efforts to thwart Beijing’s advances in areas that are strategically important to India’s maritime interests.
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India delivers strong message to China
Notably, Jaishankar has shown India’s strategies to tackle China’s multifaceted challenge to be nuanced and sophisticated in their thinking. When asked if New Delhi would support third-party intervention for the resolution of the India-China territorial border conflict along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Jaishankar reiterated that only bilateral engagement based on “mutual respect, mutual interest, and mutual sensitivity” can restore normalcy. While on the Indo-Pacific front, India has actively sought to engage in minilateral groupings to counter China.
The message is quite clear: even though China is free to reassess its anti-India stance, New Delhi will not back down from its offensive against Beijing.
