While Indonesia turned away Scotmo in disgust, and France recalled ambassadors. While others in the Asia region feels threatened. India rejoice. Jai Hind.
And it gets worse. It looks at those India is begging to be allow in this new club! Lol.
"Some in the Indian leadership might see AUKUS weakening the Quad by leaving India and Japan out."
Link:
India Welcomes AUKUS Pact as China Deterrent
The agreement will help New Delhi with its quest for a stable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
By
, the director of the National University of Singapore’s Institute of South Asian Studies.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2021, 1:24 PM
For India, the formation of the new Indo-Pacific coalition AUKUS—among Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—is welcome for a number of reasons. The
is to help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines and deepen security cooperation in other areas, such as defense-related artificial intelligence and quantum computing, cyberwarfare, and underwater technologies.
From New Delhi’s perspective, the new coalition signals a strong political resolve in Washington to confront the growing security challenges from Beijing. In ending the long-standing taboo on transferring military nuclear propulsion technology even to its allies, the United States is also acknowledging that deterring China requires outside-the-box thinking.
Until now, the United States has shared the technology of military nuclear propulsion—used to power submarines with unparalleled stealth, speed, range, and endurance—only with the United Kingdom. By drawing London into the new trilateral coalition with Canberra, Washington is also ensuring a long-term role for its traditional European ally in stabilizing the Indo-Pacific.
Realists in New Delhi will recall how the decision by the George W. Bush administration to end India’s international nuclear isolation helped transform the ties between New Delhi and Washington. The historic civil nuclear initiative—implemented in the face of relentless opposition from U.S. and global non-proliferation bureaucracies—helped harmonize the two countries’ strategic interests. It also paved the way for India’s participation in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, with Australia, Japan, and the United States. The new Australian-U.K.-U.S. coalition—already known by the acronym AUKUS—is among treaty allies, but also aims at leveraging nuclear cooperation to facilitate strategic outcomes in the Indo-Pacific: In this case, to significantly enhance Australia’s military capabilities and bind it in a long-term relationship to Britain and the United States.
It will be a while—perhaps late in the next decade— before Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines start prowling the Indo-Pacific. But it sets the stage for a more vigorous security engagement among three important strategic partners of India and will contribute to New Delhi’s own quest for a stable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
Some in the Indian leadership might see AUKUS weakening the Quad by leaving India and Japan out.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have justified the new nuclear coalition in the name of strengthening deterrence against China. Given India’s own mounting security problems with China, all actions designed to deter China, with or without Indian participation, are of strategic benefit to New Delhi.
Because India is increasingly preoccupied with overland threats from China, it needs enduring partnerships to protect its maritime flank. Although India’s naval capabilities are significant, the scale and scope of the threat presented by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy have led India to focus on a wide range of maritime coalitions, including the Quad as well as separate relationships involving Australia, Japan, Indonesia, and France.
To be sure, there is a downside to Australia’s decision to build a fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines with technology from the United States: the cancellation of Canberra’s earlier
to produce conventionally powered submarines with Paris.
France has been actively engaged in the Indo-Pacific, helping mobilize skeptical Europeans to focus on security challenges in the Far East and promoting a regional trilateral coalition with Australia and India. France, unsurprisingly, sees the Australian decision as a
. Some Australian scholars see the need for a
from Canberra to Paris. New Delhi should be eager to contribute.
