New Delhi: The Quad summit stands on its own, it’s extremely important, India stressed on Thursday, as it chose not to comment on the formation of a new trilateral security partnership announced between Australia, the UK and US called ‘AUKUS’, which is focused on the Indo-Pacific region with an eye on countering China.
The AUKUS alliance was announced during a virtual meeting between US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday.
Coincidentally, the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, and so did Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton call up Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. It is learnt that Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne too spoke with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday.
Asked if the formation of the partnership between the three countries, coming ahead of the first in-person Quad Leaders’ summit on September 24, will not dilute the importance of the Quad, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: “The Quad summit stands on its own, it’s extremely important.”
“Clearly all the Quad partners attach a lot of importance to it, as you can see that in the midst of a Covid an in-person is happening.”
He declined to comment on the implications of the AUKUS.
“I won’t like to comment or speculate on its implications, as I said, I don’t have much to say on this AUKUS initiative,” he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is travelling to the US to attend the first in-person Quad Leaders’ summit on September 24.
According to the White House, AUKUS is aimed to deepen the diplomatic, security, and defence cooperation of the three countries in the Indo-Pacific region, including by working with partners, to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
The three nations also embarked on trilateral collaboration under AUKUS to enhance joint capabilities and interoperability – focusing on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and additional undersea capabilities.
According to the White House, “The endeavour we launch today will help sustain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.”
Biden said the US “will also continue to work with ASEAN and the Quad, as was stated earlier; our five treaty allies and other close partners in the Indo-Pacific; as well as allies and partners in Europe and around the world to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, and build a future of peace, opportunity for all the people of the region.”
