Along with conducting peace exercises (Aman), the Pakistan Navy is now organizing the Peace Dialogue (Aman Dialogue) 2025 for the first time to ensure maritime peace, which is proof that the Pakistan Navy, under the leadership of the naval chief, is keeping a close eye on the strategic situation.
Just a few days ago, the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting was held in Washington, but before that, I would like to mention two other important issues. Firstly, the esteemed monument to the Poet of the East and the National Poet of Romania, which had been there for a long time, has been stolen from Jinnah House, Islamabad, and they have tired of contacting the Foreign Office. Sadly, no one is taking this matter seriously.
Secondly, some time ago, the president of a European country sent a letter asking about the venues Pakistan and that country could cooperate on, but no one has responded to this letter. The responsible persons should pay immediate attention to both these issues as well as the appearance of Trump in the presidential palace regarding our own or nearby sea lanes, the most important step was that the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Quad countries took place in Washington.
The Peace Dialogue 2025 will prove to be a precursor to expanding cooperation on maritime strategic issues, especially when the Indian Navy is busy making its mark.
This was the first day of the US Secretary of State Rubio’s tenure and its importance can be gauged from the fact that he declared the Quad meeting his first engagement. The Quad is an alliance of four countries said to be a threat to China in the Indo-Pacific.
The presence of Japan, Australia, and India, under the leadership of the United States, makes it clear that the real target of this alliance is China. Since the Indo-Pacific is a maritime region whose economic and strategic impacts Pakistan cannot remain indifferent to, it is Pakistan’s natural compulsion to monitor the actions of this Quad. With Trump coming to power, the world is watching the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting from the perspective that Trump’s policy towards Beijing is very clear that he will follow a strategy of confronting Beijing and will move towards further intensifying or exacerbating the differences between China and countries nearby China.
The Quad is considered an organization that has determined its common interests in the Indo-Pacific and is fully committed to these common interests. To the extent of saying so, this organization also claims, like every organization, that it believes in maintaining peace in the Indo-Pacific, and in securing all kinds of economic movement.
The truth is that they are not active in keeping the movement free but in controlling it, and this is not limited to the Indo-Pacific, but the United States is also influencing the South China Sea through it. It should be noted that this sea passage does not have any insignificant economic movement, but an annual trade of three trillion dollars passes through here.
Taking advantage of this situation, Australia wants to acquire nuclear submarines and supersonic missiles through the AUKUS defence project. After the recent Quad meeting regarding the acquisition of these nuclear submarines and supersonic missiles, the Australian Foreign Minister has described the conversation with her American counterpart as very positive.
In other words, Australia will acquire these nuclear-capable submarines and another kind of arms race will start in this region that is why China has made the world aware of the danger of an arms race as a result of providing this combat capability to Australia under the AUKUS.
After the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting, the US Secretary of State, in a telephone conversation with the Philippines’ Foreign Minister, reiterated the US strategy that the US is committed to defending the Philippines. It is like an open book that the Philippines and China have serious differences over the South China Sea, and each other’s navies have been facing each other in the past few years. China rightly maintains that outside forces should not interfere in this matter.
On the other hand, when a senior American diplomat, Daniel Brink, gave a speech on America’s strategy to establish a partnership with India in the South China Sea, it became clear that India was struggling to establish its effective influence there.
For this reason, for the first time in the history of the Indian Navy, an active duty missile corvette warship was gifted to a country, and this country was Vietnam, from which Indian ambitions in the South China Sea can be easily estimated. Now, it is a matter of regret that whatever our neighbour does, we have to be vigilant about it, otherwise, it should have been that by so long after independence, both of us or rather, all three countries, would have made our mutual differences a thing of the past. However, this is just a wish that does not seem to be fulfilled.
In this entire situation, the holding of peace exercises (Aman) by the Pakistan Navy has emerged as the need of the hour. These exercises have been taking place since 2007, but this time, about sixty countries will participate, including the United States. The Navy chief has doubled the importance of these exercises by organizing Peace Dialogue (Aman) 2025 for the first time, wherein, along with seminars, naval officers from other countries will also be able to understand each other’s points of view.
Experts believe that the Peace Dialogue (Aman) 2025 and these exercises will prove to be a precursor to expanding cooperation on maritime strategic issues, especially when the Indian Navy is busy making its mark from the Indo-Pacific to the South China Sea.
The writer is a freelance columnist.