Choose sides china russia military exercise near quad meet heralds a new cold war

Choose sides china russia military exercise near quad meet heralds a new cold war

As Quad leaders met in person in Tokyo, Russia and China sent military aircraft near Japan’s airspace. While Beijing and Moscow have explained the manoeuvre as part of an annual military cooperation plan, there’s little doubt that the joint exercise was aimed at warning the Quad nations. In fact, it is now explicitly clear that China and Russia have formed a military-strategic compact to counter the Quad as well as US allies outside the platform. It is quite possible that we are witnessing the emergence of a new Cold War with democratic nations led by the US ranged against authoritarian regimes championed by China and Russia.

This is truly bad news for the world. Russia nurses a deep-seated grudge from the collapse of the Soviet Union, while China’s meteoric economic rise over the last three decades appears to have given the Chinese Communist Party an inflated sense of superiority. The CCP wants to take revenge for the 100 years of humiliation China faced in the 19th and 20th centuries and restore the glory of the Middle Kingdom. Together, China and Russia want to rewrite the rules-based international order.

This means that the Quad and other likeminded platforms cannot waste any time. The war in Ukraine can no longer be seen in isolation. In fact, it is just the beginning of a long drawn out strategic war between democracies and autocracies. India, which has a historic relationship with Russia but has also ramped up its strategic engagement with the West, must formulate a clear-headed policy. Russia is now firmly in the China camp. And China sees India as yet another Asian neighbour that needs to be subdued. New Delhi must therefore further boost strategic security ties with the West, militarise the Quad and forcefully defend democratic values.