Modi refrains from overtly supporting Biden's call for strengthening Quad

'Quad' is an informal coalition originally launched by India, Australia, Japan and the US in 2007 and re-launched in 2017 to create a bulwark of democratic nations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refrained from explicitly supporting American President Joe Biden’s call for strengthening the ‘Quad’, although the two leaders agreed to continue close India-US cooperation in Indo-Pacific.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also discussed with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken India-US cooperation in Indo-Pacific during a separate phone call.

Modi and Biden spoke over the phone late on Monday – for the first time after the change of guard at the White House in Washington D.C. on January 20. They agreed to continue “close co-operation to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific, including support for freedom of navigation, territorial integrity, and a stronger regional architecture through the Quad,” according to a readout issued by the White House early Tuesday.

The Biden Administration recently proposed to further elevate the ‘Quad’ with a virtual meeting of the leaders of the four nations. New Delhi is cautiously studying the proposal.

Read: Biden speaks to PM Modi, stresses defence of democratic norms and strong regional ties

A separate statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi quoted the Prime Minister and the US President reiterating “the importance of working with like-minded countries to ensure a rules-based international order and a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region”.

Jaishankar, however, tweeted in the evening that he had reviewed with his US counterpart Blinken the developments in Indo-Pacific and cooperation within the framework of ‘Quad’

The White House statement noted that the Prime Minister and the US President further resolved that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld in Myanmar, where the military of late taken over power questioning the legitimacy of the recent re-election of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy (NLD) to power.

The MEA statement had no reference to any discussion between the two leaders over the military coup in the South East Asian nation.

Read | US President Joe Biden stresses need to defend democratic norms to PM Modi over call

Modi and Biden, however, discussed at length the “regional developments and the wider geopolitical context”, the MEA stated, subtly indicating that the Prime Minister and the US President had exchanged views on growing belligerence of China, not only along its Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India but also in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, East China Sea, Taiwan Strait and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific.

They noted that the India-US partnership was “firmly anchored” in “common strategic interests”.

Read | PM Modi expresses concern over increasing violence in Afghanistan

The senior diplomats of the four nations had several meetings ever since the quad was re-launched. It was elevated to the level of Foreign Ministers in September 2019. The second ministerial meeting of the four-nation coalition took place in Tokyo on October 6 last year.

They noted that the India-US partnership was “firmly anchored” in “common strategic interests”.

The senior diplomats of the four nations had several meetings ever since the quad was re-launched. It was elevated to the level of Foreign Ministers in September 2019. The second ministerial meeting of the four-nation coalition took place in Tokyo on October 6 last year.

But the Trump Administration’s move to formalize and expand the ‘Quad’ and turn it into a NATO-like bloc for the Indo-Pacific region did not succeed, as New Delhi was in favour of moving cautiously and was hesitant to join a security architecture that would appear to be overtly adversarial to China. Australia and Japan too were not yet ready to go the whole hog and overtly gang up with the US against China.