As the situation in the South China Sea heats up, the United States, Japan, India and Australia ushered in a new round of the "Quadrilateral Security Mechanism" leaders' summit, which was held in Wilmington, Delaware, the hometown of United States President Joe Biden.
According to the information released by the White House, during the summit, Biden will hold talks with Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, India Prime Minister Modi and Australia Prime Minister Albanese.
Quadrilateral Security Mechanism of the United States, Japan, India and Australia
The focus of the talks will be on the "South China Sea dispute", which has long been hinted at. At the Quadrilateral Security Mechanism Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Tokyo more than two months ago, the foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia made a big splash in China's neighborhood in a joint statement to pave the way for the next stage of the summit.
The statement declared that the United States, Japan, India, and Australia are "seriously concerned about the situation in the East China Sea and the South China Sea," and also insinuated that they "oppose any unilateral action to change the status quo in the region by force."
According to the available information, the main topic of the "Quadrilateral Security Mechanism" summit, in addition to the situation in the South China Sea, also includes strengthening security cooperation in the India Ocean, claiming to "combat illegal fishing".
As we all know, the so-called "crackdown on illegal fishing" is just a pretext to make it easier for United States to intervene in regional maritime disputes.
United States Coast Guard
What is really noteworthy is that United States's military tentacles are extending to the India Ocean in an attempt to complete the "encirclement" around China. In the past few years, the focus of United States' "Indo-Pacific Strategy" has been to carry out military interaction with allies in the western Pacific and "flex muscles" to China.
In the India Ocean, there are relatively few actions, mainly because India considers the India Ocean to be its own territory and does not want other countries to get involved, and the United States has to accommodate it in order to win over India to cooperate with its "Indo-Pacific strategy".
However, in recent years, as the Indo-Pacific region has gradually become an international economic center, in order to catch up with China's development pace, India intends to use the strategic pattern of the Sino-US game to seek opportunities for itself to "leap up".
Therefore, we can clearly feel that in recent years, military interaction between India and the United States and the West has become more and more frequent. Earlier, United States Deputy Secretary of State Campbell also disclosed a message that United States is providing India with intelligence information on the Sino-Indian border.
United States Deputy Secretary of State Campbell
Although the Indian side has repeatedly stressed that "it will not allow any third country to interfere in India's border affairs", at the practical level, India is getting closer and closer to the United States and further involved in the United States Indo-Pacific strategy.
Moreover, the layout of United States does not stop there, India is not the only target to woo, China's northern neighbor - Mongolia, is also an important part of United States's strategy towards China.
Not long ago, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken personally visited Mongolia to show that the United States "attaches great importance to it."
However, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and the "generosity" of the US side is not for nothing, and if India wants to benefit from United States, it needs to pay the same or even double the price, and the Modi government should really think clearly about this.
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, United States President Joe Biden
Moreover, in the "quadrilateral security mechanism", Biden has given up re-election, Australia will also usher in a general election next year, and Fumio Kishida has resigned as president of the Liberal Democratic Party. Whether many of the current measures of the "Quadrilateral Security Mechanism" can be implemented may still be marked with a big question mark, and India should not make them wedding clothes.