India needs the Quad to counter China’s growing power in the Indo-Pacific region

India’s forthcoming maritime dialogue with China on the “Indo-Pacific” has assumed greater significance since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s articulation of his vision for the region at the Shangri-La Dialogue. This vision was distinct from America’s.

Although Modi echoed US demands for “freedom of navigation, unimpeded commerce and peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law”, he also said that “Asia and the world will have a better future when India and China work together … [being] sensitive to each other’s interests”. Modi made no mention of the “Quad” – an informal arrangement between India, the US, Japan and Australia to counterbalance China.

India’s ties with the US are on an upward trajectory, with Donald Trump’s administration building on work by previous administrations and with China’s unprecedented rise, particularly in the western Pacific and the eastern Indian oceans. This has led to the concept of the “Indo-Pacific” and renaming of America’s Pacific Command as the Indo-Pacific Command.

However, recent public differences on key issues, from Iran sanctions to trade, and the abrupt postponement of the “2+2 dialogue”, suggest a new coolness in US-India relations. Given Trump’s penchant for bilateral dealings, America’s strategic investment in the Quad remains a matter of intense speculation as long as he is in office.