With hostile neighbours China and Pakistan always looking for the opportunity to hurt the interest of India, it is time for India to seek cooperation from other like minded countries who share similar values and ideas. The just concluded summit of the Quadrilateral Forum in Tokyo is a perfect platform for New Delhi to become a key source of robust security and economic policies.
The possibilities for pooling India’s technological resources with its partners of the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue comprising the US, India, Japan and Australia) to promote peace and prosperity across the Indo-Pacific are immense. Technology is at the core of the new Indo Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) launched in Tokyo in the presence of the leaders of the Quad members including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It is time India shed its ambivalent, tentative and incremental approach towards its relationship with the western democratic world. In the changing global geopolitical environment, in the wake of China’s growing belligerence and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, India needs to tap the emerging opportunities and realise its potential as a technological power. India can join its Quad partners in drawing up new rules to govern critical technologies that are rapidly transforming the global economic order and international security politics. For India, which is not part of any region-wide trade agreement, the IPEF opens the door for economic reengagement with Asia. The Quad has become the vehicle to shape the techno-politics of the Indo-Pacific and also to counter the growing influence of China. It serves as a critical forum not just for cooperation among democracies but also for ensuring an open, free, and inclusive Indo-Pacific. It should not be seen merely as an anti-China alliance but as a multilateral forum working on a wide range of areas of cooperation to ensure regional peace.