Getting our Quad fundas right

What had been envisaged and heralded, the heads- of-state-level Quad Summit in New Delhi, has emerged much like a molehill from a mountain of ex pectations. Relegated to yet another ministerial-level meeting, the alliance’s grand layout has shrunk. Donald Trump, famously whimsical and chronically transactional, has found himself trapped in a web of misadventures, reflecting a debatable level of strategic maturity and dubious regime-change ventures to be bothered by initiatives like the Quad to which he reportedly paid initial lip service.

But that could as well have been his typical grand standing. In fact, speaking of securing energy chains, the American enterprise in Venezuela looks far more like a private resource grab than a coherent geopolitical doctrine that India can economically benefit more from vis a vis, say, Russian or Iranian oil.

Indeed, the Quad has historically been a fitfully alert organisation where consistency of commitment is routinely sacrificed at the altar of political expedi ency. The New Delhi Foreign Ministers’ meet convened precisely as Trump has been personally responsible for ripping apart the older certitudes of the global order.

Washington recently paid obsequious courtesy in the court of Emperor Xi Jinping in Beijing, deferring to China’s sensitivities over Taiwan by freezing a multi-billion-dollar arms package. This begs the question: exactly how bristly is this venture vis-à-vis China when Trump himself doesn’t condescend to attend or even send a message?

Now, take the newly trumpeted Fiji port project. We hear much about the almost continuous presence of the Australian, Japanese, and American navies there, alongside the strategic importance of protecting the South Pacific’s undersea cables. Yet, where exactly do India’s strategic interests lie in an island nation that we do not even have direct flights to?

When it comes to Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), Quad’s rhetoric is entirely disconnected from reality. The establishment here seemed to be completely out of any sort of awareness in March when an American nuclear submarine torpedoed and sank the Iranian frig ate IRIS Dena a mere 19 nautical miles off Galle, Sri Lanka.

The Americans executed an out-of-area kill right under our snorkelling noses. It is well and good to collaborate on softer initiatives like public health, Covid-19 vaccines, and climate change. However, we are certain there are other diplomatic avenues capable of doing the same things equally effectively.

Both Pax Silica and the critical minerals initiatives are heavily America-driven. Time will tell. Or a White Paper. If India wishes to navi- gate a fragmented world run by unpredictable super- powers, it must stop chasing multilateral illusions. As they say in these parts, get our fundas right.