Emerging quad of democracies amid China’s rising power
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Manila on November 12 on a three-day visit to the Philippines for the 15th India-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet and the 12th East Asia Summit. On the side lines of the scheduled meetings, an important agreement started to take place which signaled the return of the Quad. It implied that leaders from like minded democracies to include India, Australia, Japan and the US met on November 12 and agreed that “a free, open, prosperous and inclusive” Indo-Pacific served long-term global interests, giving impetus to an emerging quad of democracies amid China’s rising military and economic power. US is a key partner in this Quad and thus the lead article is on the march of Indo-US relations where Dr Vivek Lall, Chief Executive, US and International Strategic Development, General Atomics, gives an overview of them and comes to a conclusion that, “both countries have discovered common ground and shared concerns, which have propelled them towards discarding old mistrusts and misconceptions, and adopting methods to establish renewed faith and confidence in each other.”
Prime Minister of Italy, Paulo Gentiloni visited India from October 29 to 30 which indicates a thaw in the India-Italy relations due to the arrest of two Italian marines in 2012 who killed two Indian fishermen from Kerala in Indian maritime boundary. The ModiGentiloni summit resulted in clearing the path for resumption of defence cooperation between India and Italy. With this view the two Prime Ministers agreed to enhance bilateral defence cooperation for which a structured dialogue will be held in Rome or New Delhi in the first half of next year writes Ranjit Kumar. The Prime Ministers also okayed the Italian proposal to allow the defence companies from both the countries to meet and discuss areas of cooperation. Significantly, the Italian Prime Minister also supported India’s intensified engagement with Wassenaar Arrangement, the Australia Group, and the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) which strengthens global non-proliferation efforts.
Media has reported that the Indian Army is going in for equipping infantry soldiers with a world-class assault rifle, while noninfantry soldiers would get a cheaper, ‘less effective’, indigenous rifle. Lt General P.C. Katoch (Retd) writes that this is quite a logical move and should be taken forward.
Chabahar is Iran’s only oceanic port which is India’s gateway to Afghanistan as Pakistan does not allow India land transit facilities to Afghanistan. It is now being used by India to send supplies to Afghanistan.
The growing ISIS drone threat led the US to launch a $700 million crash programme in September 2017 to thwart the menace. A 13-member US delegation, headed by Rear Admiral Brian Antonio, Programme Executive Officer Aircraft Carriers visited India for the 4th meeting of the Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Co-operation, constituted under the auspices of the IndoUS Defence Trade and Technology Initiative, held from October 29 to November 3, 2017. The concluding session of the Joint Working Group Meeting was held on November 3, 2017, at New Delhi and was co-chaired by Vice Admiral D.M. Deshpande, Controller Warship Production and Acquisition, and Rear Admiral Brian Antonio. Global and regional news just about wraps this issue. Happy reading!