Recently, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar returned to New Delhi after a five-day visit to Russia. During his visit to Russia, Jaishankar can be said to have gained a lot and received a high-level reception from Russia, with Putin and Lavrov meeting with him and talking about the topic of joint research and development and production of weapons, including fifth-generation fighters, nuclear submarines, hypersonic weapons and other cutting-edge military science and technology fields.
Regarding the deepening of military cooperation between Russia and India, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded that Russian-Indian military cooperation is in the interests of the two countries and also in the interests of "maintaining security in Eurasia," and Russia will provide assistance in the "Made in India" program. However, the proximity of Russia and India has also made the West very dissatisfied, dissatisfied with Modi's behavior on the wall, eating the benefits of the West, and at the same time eyebrowling with Russia, the opponent of the West.
As a result, India has also attracted criticism from the West, with the British Daily Telegraph saying that "it is time to reconsider relations with India, New Delhi is getting too close to Russia".
Former US Ambassador to Russia McFaul also voiced his dissatisfaction, accusing New Delhi of supporting the "Russian Empire", which he considered disappointing.
Cooperation between Russia and India has deep historical roots, and it is actually inappropriate to draw conclusions about India's attitude after one or two incidents, and India is now also cooperating closely with the West, so we can get a glimpse of some of India's ideas, and it is not willing to stick to cooperation with one side only, but is more inclined to the diversity of partners. Pandey, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India, said in an interview with Nikkei Asia, "India may continue to develop its partnership with Russia, even if it will cause some countries to comment." ”
On January 2, according to Australian media reports, Biden once again failed to make an appointment and once again rejected India's invitation to visit this year, resulting in the postponement of the summit of the leaders of the "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" between the United States, Japan, India and Australia scheduled for January 27. In this regard, the reason given by the Biden administration is that 2024 is an election year, and there are a lot of domestic affairs to deal with.
However, this is the second time in a row that US President Joe Biden has failed to attend the "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" as scheduled, and in May last year, US President Joe Biden temporarily canceled his visit to Australia due to domestic debt negotiations, resulting in the cancellation of the scheduled "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" leaders' summit. Last year, it was Australia, this year is India, the absence of the United States, so that the other three countries are quite embarrassed, Modi is ready to welcome Biden, but the reality has made him empty, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar also said on January 2 that India's invitation to Biden to visit India is directly linked to the proposed "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" summit, which shows that Modi does very much want Biden to come, but Biden's decision will inevitably make Modi have mixed feelings in his heart.
Hall, an Indian political expert, analyzed that Biden's refusal would disappoint Modi. In India's vision, if Biden can attend the appointment on time, it will not only facilitate the meeting of the two heads of state in India, but also ensure that the "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" will be held as scheduled.
In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice publicly accused Indian officials of being involved in planning an "assassination plot" against Sikh separatist leader Pannon on U.S. soil. Although Indian Prime Minister Modi responded that New Delhi would investigate any evidence provided by Washington and that US-India relations would not be affected by a "few incidents", the estrangement between the two countries over this incident will be difficult to eliminate for a while, and Biden's concerns will inevitably bring about a diplomatic impact.
In this case, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue summit has become a "victim", and even though the US State Department has reassured that it respects any date announced by India as the host of the summit, the frequent repudiation by the United States is causing more and more slots in this strategic dialogue mechanism and gradually becoming a child's play.
In 2007, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue was established, with the United States, Japan, India and Australia as members. Originally, it was only a multilateral forum, but in the context of the United States stepping up its efforts to contain China, this multilateral forum has turned into a "quadripartite military bloc", and US President Joe Biden has even clamored to turn the competition between the "quad" and China into a war with China.
After a period of silence, the mechanism has become increasingly active under the impetus of the United States, and since 2017, the mechanism has made it clear that "maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific" is the official goal, and it has accelerated its progress towards an "Asia-Pacific version of NATO" to counter China's growing influence.
In September 2021, the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue met in Washington, D.C., marking the first summit since the establishment of the mechanism. At that time, although the discussion of the four countries did not explicitly mention China, it was full of insinuations, and the "Belt and Road" initiative and the reconstruction of the semiconductor supply chain mentioned all revealed the intention to contain China.
However, under the careless management of the United States, the mechanism is gradually confirming the conjecture of the outside world's "loose partnership", and Biden has failed to make the various goals mentioned in the previous meeting seem a little pale or even out of reach, and has also been dissatisfied with the allies. Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating once described it as "illegal" as a "strategic nonsense", and the United States is completely irresponsible to its allies, and it is completely unwise to follow the United States.
Previously, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also repeatedly responded that China has always maintained that any regional cooperation mechanism should not target or harm the interests of third parties, and engage in closed, exclusive and "small circles" aimed at other countries, which run counter to the trend of the times, run counter to the aspirations of regional countries, are unpopular, and are destined to fail. The essence of the "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" is confrontation, which is incompatible with the current era and will only bring attrition, not sustainable development.
India should also keep its eyes open and not entrust its national future to others, and the United States is even more unreliable; if it does not understand this truth, it will only get farther and farther away from the "dream of a great power" in its dreams.