Is it the right time for India to choose between the US and Russia?
Within two months of Biden assuming power in January 2021, there has been a big change in the politics of the whole world. In the meeting of the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) held on 12 March 2021, the Quad and its Philosophy have come out in front of the world.
It is true that Joe Biden is not interested in QUAD like Donald Trump and does not want to move to military alliances but due to this QUAD meeting, in the long term, there is a possibility that QUAD can go towards the military direction.
If you look at Joe Biden’s foreign policy, he is not going to be as tough on China as Donald Trump. If you look at Biden’s viewpoint, he would like to end the trade war with China right now. He would not like to offend China, But he also knows that if the USA wants to secure the Indo-Pacific region then India can become a strategic partner.
As soon as Biden comes, He showed that he will be going tough on Russia. They are going to sanction more on Russia. Biden is also angry with Putin for intervening in the election.
In March, it was shown from the meeting between the Defense Minister-Secretary of India-America that India is very important for Biden. According to the Defense Secretary, if India takes the delivery of the S400, then it will be sanctioned according to the CAATSA Act.
If you look from Putin’s perspective, he has pushed towards China with the current sanction, and if Russia gets more sanction, he will be pushed completely towards China. This is going to damage India and America in the long term. Therefore, if in the future, the possibility of the Sino-Russian military alliance has increased.
If India continues to buy more Weapons from Russia, then there can be a lot of damage in the future. And it would be foolish to buy all the important defense items from one country only.
If you compare Quad and BRICS, then in Quad we include countries like Australia and Japan and if you see the interest of these countries then they will meet India. They also consider China as a threat, while comparing BRICS, apart from Russia, there are countries like Brazil and South Africa. Seeing their interest, they would like to improve more economic relations with China which will not be in India’s interest.
For now, Biden is not going to take the QUAD group to military alliances. Neither does India not need a defense partner right now, but in the coming 10 or 20 years, China is trying its most useful to leave America behind. But we should move forward with QUAD and America from now on. BRICS should also give importance but for long-term interest, we should choose QUAD over BRICS.