Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has claimed that India, which has charted an independent course on foreign policy, was forced to change its strategic posture and join the four-nation Quad grouping due to China’s aggressive actions.
India and China are locked in a prolonged border standoff in eastern Ladakh for over 31 months. Bilateral ties came under severe strain after the deadly clash in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June 2020.
India has said that bilateral relations cannot be normal until there is peace in the border area.
In his latest book ‘Never Give An Inch: Fighting for the America I Love’, which hit the market on Tuesday, Pompeo called India a “wild card” in the Quad because it was a nation founded on socialist ideology and aligned with the Cold War. Neither America nor the then USSR.
“The country (India) has always gone its own way without a true coalition system, and is still mostly so. But due to the actions of China, India has had to change its strategic posture in the last few years.
Pompeo, 59, who is widely speculated to contest the presidential election in 2024, explains how the Donald Trump administration was successful in getting India into the Quad grouping.
The US, Japan, India and Australia gave shape to a long-pending proposal in 2017 to set up a Quad or Quadrilateral alliance to counter China’s aggressive behavior in the resource-rich Indo-Pacific region.
“China forged a closer partnership with Pakistan – India’s arch rival – as one of the first steps in its Belt and Road Initiative.
Pompeo writes, “In June 2020, Chinese troops killed twenty Indian soldiers in a border skirmish. That bloody incident led to the Indian public demanding a change in their country’s relations with China.”
“India banned TikTok and dozens of Chinese apps as part of its response. And a Chinese virus was killing millions of Indian citizens.
I was sometimes asked why India had moved away from China, and my answer was straight from what I heard from the Indian leadership: ‘Wouldn’t you?’ Times were changing – and creating an opportunity for us to try something new and bring America and India closer than ever,” Pompeo writes.
In his book, Pompeo described former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a global leader of extraordinary courage and vision.
“He is considered the father of the Quad, who demonstrated his foresight in seeing the CCP as a threat. He also coined the idea of a “free and open Indo-Pacific” – a concept that has gained enduring currency in diplomatic circles. It bears repeating: what a great loss it was to the world that this outstanding leader was assassinated in 2022.”
Pompeo also praised former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for showing courage and standing up to Chinese aggression. He said the Japanese and Australian legs of the Quad were strong and getting stronger with our support.
China is embroiled in heated territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. China claims the entire South China Sea as its own.
There are counter-claims from Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan. Beijing has also built and militarized several islands it controls in the region.
Both regions are said to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are also important for global trade.
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