Old habits die hard. United States of America (USA) is back to business to develop alliances on the basis of self-assumed threats to world peace and freedom. World is being used as proxy to pursues objectives of USA. The war on terror is not over yet as USA has started to build new narratives for conflicts. China is the new obsession for USA and ruling elite of USA is sparing no moment to malign China on one pretext or another. They are leaving no stone unturned in their quest for allies to oppose and undermine China. In this context, India is a match made in heaven for USA in South Asian region. There are multiple reasons for this but the Indian obsession to establish its dominance in the region coupled with anti-Pakistan sentiments make this deal most favorable for them. They have joined hands against China and Pakistan and trying to sabotage the interests of both countries. Although they have limited success however, they are not giving up.
The joint statement of 2+2 meeting is perfect example of such obsession of both states. Although, the meeting was scheduled for deliberation on USA and India’s bilateral relation, but it turned into bickering forum against China and Pakistan. USA was busy in convincing India to stand against China while India was asking to circle Pakistan at any cost. In a nutshell, USA tried hard to undermine China and India was hell bent to malign Pakistan no matter what. It seems that the meeting was 2 (USA and India) against 2 (China and Pakistan), not 2+2.
The analysis of joint statement shows that Pakistan and China need to be careful. It seems that USA and India are fixated on the idea of damaging both countries
Joint statement started with focusing on South China Sea at the name of freedom of navigation and rule of law. In reality it is an attempt to undermine the rights of China and hinder development of region. They want to control the flow of traffic in the name of freedom of navigation. The QUAD is a practicalattempt to create barriers. It is also evident from the inclusion of Australia in Naval exercise in India, which now will be jointly held by India, USA, Japan and Australia. Experts believes it is an endeavor to create barriers in South China Sea to hinder the free movement of traffic. Howbeit, ASEAN countries, which are real stakeholders of South China Sea, are not convinced of the definition provided by USA. Additionally,USA has also offered India to provide support in standoff with China who will also remain engaged with African Command of US army for future cooperation. It would be interesting to watch, as it seems that US and India want to enhance influence in African region to counter Chinese investment in the region.
During media interaction, Pompeo spent much time maligning China and Communist Party of China (CPC). He tried to impress by declaring that USA will stand by India if any conflict aggravated between China and India. He also blamed China for COVID-19. It is very interesting to note that USA and India failed miserably to counter COVID-19 at domestic level but they keep blaming China. Instead of doing something to protect their people, they prefer to waste time in blaming China. However, both Pakistan and China, in their diplomatic wisdom,avoided to adopt this strategy of blame game in joint statement and focused on building cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.
The establishment of US International Development Cooperation (USIDFC)office in India was considered a major step for enhancing economic cooperation. Joint statement applauded the initiative. However, the underneath objective of establishing USIDFC is to counter Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It is an open secret that USIDFC has been created by US to counter BRI of China. Through BUILD Act in 2018, USA is trying to advance its model of BRI through USIDFC. Thus, it is another attempt to oppose China and topple its historic economic rise. India has been lured through this office to not join BRI. Although, many sane voices from India are asking India to join the BRI because USIDFC has no comparison with BRI. USIDFC has only US$ 60 billion against BRI which has already have pledged trillions of US$ dollar.
Howbeit, India preferred to join USIDFC due to its assumed self-greatness. It considers that BRI is a barrier to achieve the major power status in Asia. India is also trying to counter BRI on behalf of USA in other countries by different means.For example, India in collaboration with Japan launched Asia-Africa Growth Corridor and presenting it as alternative of China in African region.It has no comparison with China investment and development assistance to the region. India also offered US$ 1 billion credit line to Central Asia States for investment in development projects in the areas of connectivity, IT, Energy and others. Again, it is an attempt to present herself as an alternative to China.
Furthermore, joint statement did not forget to mention Pakistan and levy blame on Pakistan on the basis of baseless assumptions. Although, India itself is involved in terrorism and terror financing but it wants to shift blame on Pakistan. The recent FinCEN leaks also highlighted the role of India in terror financing. It has mentioned that many big banks of India are involved in money laundering. Recently,a report by international magazine also pointed out role of India in terrorism. It is astonishing to note that USA remained silent on it and started to malign Pakistan on Indian behalf.
Another strange aspect of this alliance is that, on one hand,USA is admiring role of Pakistan against terrorism but on other hand USA has joined India to malign Pakistan. We can understand the position of India, as Indian politics and politicians cannot survive without Pakistan bashing but why USA joined hand with India is beyond apprehension. It is also against the international norms to mention third country without any reason. It seems that USA adopted the statement to appease India for securing its support against China and securing defence deals. It seems that China’s obsession has undermined the thinking ability of USA completely. Some experts also believe that USA did it to pressurize Pakistan to get its objectives including roll back of CPEC and China-Pakistan relation, more active role in Afghan peace process etc.
The analysis of joint statement shows that Pakistan and China need to be careful. It seems that USA and India are fixated on the idea of damaging both countries. Although, they talk about the rule of law but in reality, USA and India are violating rule of law on every forum. The actions of India and silence of USA on Kashmir issues is biggest example of this hypocrisy. Besides, both countries are interested to inflate conflicts to divert attention of their people from bad performance of their respective governments on economic and development fronts.
The writer is Director, Asia Study Center SDPI