On Friday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated that US President-elect Donald Trump is unlikely to weaken support for the Quad because his previous administration was instrumental in improving the organization.
Jaishankar stated at the India-Japan Forum that the Quad, which unites the US, Japan, Australia, and India, is expanding and one of the most extensive systems for intergovernmental coordination.
He said, “The Quad was revived in 2017, during Trump’s first term as president, and the American leader deserves a lot of credit for the grouping taking off in its second incarnation. In 2017, it was the first year of the Trump administration when it started at the vice minister’s level. Then, in 2019, it was again under the Trump administration that it moved from the vice minister’s level to the foreign minister’s level. And there is every reason for us to expect that, they would say we got it right the first time, it’s done well and therefore, we should keep with it”.
In reference to Trump’s beliefs that the US’s allies should share the load, Jaishankar stated that “those arguments actually don’t apply to the Quad at all because the Quad is a kind of ‘everybody pays their fair share’.”
Trump secured a second term as US president after a decisive victory over his Democratic rival Kamala Harris. He will be sworn in as president in January.
Jaishankar said that the four nations in the Quad might agree and disagree on some issues in response to a question regarding a narrative in Japan that depicted India as the weak link in the group.
He stated, “In our country…people have said Japan is the weak link at times… And remember… in the initial round of Quad, we felt the Australians pulled the plug on Quad and the Australians felt they should pull the plug before we pulled the plug on Quad. The Quad, is growing and its agenda makes it ‘one of the most expansive sorts of inter-governmental coordination that is today in evidence’.”
India is set to host the next Quad Summit in 2025.
In response to another query, Jaishankar stated that due of their closeness to China, Japan and India had similar experiences. “In our particular case, we had a stable relationship with China…In terms of trade, it was very, very substantial and still is very substantial…There were some issues we have which is a very imbalanced trade. We have had a lot of market access issues in China,” he said.
The relationship as a whole was affected by the 2020 Line of Actual Control (LAC) conflict. He continued, “Our entire relationship with China was predicated on the fact that the border areas would remain peaceful and stable and we had agreements to ensure that. In 2020, the Chinese chose to bring a lot of forces to the border areas and obviously, we responded with counter-deployments”.
It took the two sides four-and-a-half years to negotiate the disengagement of forces, and challenges remain with regard to de-escalation on the LAC. He said, “We still have challenges left with us. We still have to de-escalate because what we have done is disengage forces from close proximity but we have a de-escalation because there’s still a very large number of forces…Now, we have to sit down and discuss with China how we rebuild our relationship and that is an exercise that still has to be undertaken”.
Jaishankar further emphasized the importance of the semiconductor industry in changing the geopolitical landscape of the world and the possibility of cooperation between Japan and India in this area.
Both nations are expanding their semiconductor industry and collaborating with Taiwan, opening the door to a game-changing alliance in this vital area.
He said, “Japan is revitalising its semiconductor sector, and India, after a very long period of neglect, has announced a semiconductor mission… It is interesting that both of us also happen to be working with Taiwan. I’m seeing the beginnings of something potentially important here, and potentially really significant for both countries”.
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