Page 57 - Diplomatists Nov

SPO TLIGHT

for China, as it routinely undertakes information with extra-regional players w. r. t. the Indian Ocean
gathering missions in Indian waters and accords region in the US and Australia (and even Japan, to
importance to the Bay’s Bangladeshi and Burmese a certain extent). The prevalence of this uneasiness
ports. Subsequently, the four navies are geared to in the Chinese state machinery is epitomised by
move to the Arabian Sea for the next round. The a panoply of rigid, vigorous, and diverse set of
exercises are not restricted to India’s maritime mushrooming relationships between India-Japan,
domain but have also taken place in foreign waters India-US, India-Australia, Australia-US, Australia-
(Japan, 2019). The MALABAR held between 03- India-Japan, and several more. More so, the broader
06 November addressed three domains of naval security domain is being prioritised above soft
warfare in the surface, anti-submarine, and anti- undertakings.
air. The exercises have also been dubbed as ‘war
games’ by several media outlets. Conclusion: An Ode to QUAD
China has been a reprehensible cause for
Why are the QUAD and the MALABAR consternation to the world owing not just to the
becoming a source of mounting Chinese malevolent novel Coronavirus pandemic, that is
anxieties? sadly showing no signs of abating, but also due
Firstly, it is evident from recent cooperation to its flagrant and increasingly routine territorial

initiatives and a strongly forged bonhomie between aggrandisement with countries such as India,
QUAD members that the MALABAR may be Japan, Vietnam, and The Philippines. The latter is
a step towards the premeditated encirclement fast assuming the face of unoffi cial Chinese policy
of the Peoples’ Republic of China. Intensifi ed positions and is downplaying official Chinese
multilateralism in the security domain owing to policy pretensions.
the need to curb growing Chinese hegemony and The naval undertakings of the four countries in
assertiveness is manifested by the MALABAR the form of a grander MALABAR leading to an
having likely become a military exemplar of the integrated outlook of one of the most signifi cant
Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. military dimensions of a country in its sea-bound
A second reason for Chinese concerns involves forces is an all-out worry for China. The PLAN
the deepening alliances and increasingly convergent remains a work in progress despite its rapid
interests between extant players in the Indo-Pacifi c modernisation, and China is plagued by a host of
region leading to stricter scrutiny of Chinese territorial disputes in the South and East China
activities on an urgent basis. Japan, Australia, Seas. Chinese claims to its neighbouring waters
India, and the United States profess to bilateral being an exclusive domain of the PLAN are also
and trilateral acquaintances that discuss, debate, being gradually contested. With the above in mind,
and act upon pressing issues in the modern-day China’s twenty-first-century dominance of the
landscape of strategic and security aff airs. The world as a whole remains threatened.
maritime bonhomie between the four countries is The MALABAR’s effective reigning in of the

well reflected in a renewed MALABAR. QUAD’s supposed desire to incorporate a much-

The sharpening of the collective naval element coveted military component to its rising importance

of the QUAD countries is being addressed signals an unofficial resort to necessitated strategic
through the MALABAR. With focussed exercises behaviour on the part of its four participants. The
improving and, further ahead, likely to improvise QUAD-MALABAR fusion will essentially indicate
upon the present tenets of the MALABAR which changing times and can be posited as a case of
include strategic wargaming, tactical uplift, and ‘more to come’. Could this lead to a constituted
naval friendliness, China’s Peoples’ Liberation and dedicated QUAD force comprising committed
Army Navy (PLAN) is likely to be perturbed. assets of member navies and other maritime forces

As per the Commander, U. S. Pacific Fleet, the with the terrestrial arena also in consideration? The
exercises are aimed at incorporating advanced world will have to wait and see.
warfare tactics and supporting regional security
cooperation. *Author is a Research Associate at the National
Finally, Chinese apprehensions in the present Maritime Foundation in New Delhi, India, and
security scenario largely encompass the rising researches on maritime issues pertaining to Japan,
Communist hegemon’s fears and concerns refl ected the Republic of Korea (ROK), ASEAN, Asian
in the bolstered ties of its immediate neighbours multilateralism, and the Indo-Pacifi c Region.

Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 8 • Issue 9 • November 2020, Noida • 57