Australia’s participation in the Malabar exercise has unnerved the Chinese Communist Party. Feeling the heat of a growing military alliance in the Indo-Pacific, China has turned towards Russia to save it from the burns but Moscow’s silence speaks volumes.
The rapid development of QUAD has rattled China. India’s active contribution to constitute the QUAD is a far cry from its balancing act in the region. Its decision to invite Australia for the Malabar exercise is a statement of intent. India has grown more aggressive in its role to contain China and Australia’s formal inclusion in the naval exercise is a testament to that.
China can feel the ground sink underneath and has turned to Russia to help it in overcoming this balancing and containment act in the region. But Russia’s passiveness to China’s pleas means that Putin is just not interested.
CCP mouthpiece Global Times has launched an aggressive attack in regards to India’s relation with Russia. In an article titled “New Delhi wants to dance with Washington’s war waltz in the Indian Ocean”, it mentions that the close relations of QUAD will affect “New Delhi’s close relationship with Moscow” and the “contradictions between India and Russia will be more pronounced”.
It even goes on to mention India’s “various” conflicts with the QUAD members, Australia, and the United States, citing “conflicting regional interests”, but if the incidents in the last few years are analyzed then these conflicts have already been “negated” for the free flow of trade and containment of China.
The China dream and BRI is at the risk of total failure. China is hitting roadblocks at every corner, and now getting cornered by the QUAD has sent alarm bells ringing in Beijing. But the biggest issue that should be of concern to the paper dragon should be Russia’s indifferent approach to these issues raised by China. In one of our articles we pointed out how Putin will humiliate Jinping and looks like, it has already started.
If the stooges at Global Times are anything to go by, then they’d have you believe that China will have Russia pull India up and give it a good talking to. That could not be any further from the truth even if they tried. India imports 55% of its military technology from Russia since 2014. The relations between the two major powers have survived the tests of time since the Cold War. But most importantly India gives Russia a way out of total dependency on Chinese imports.
Russia’s current cold shoulder to China is not the first but has followed a developing trend in Russia-China relations. In June during an escalation of the intensive border standoff between India and China, Russia refused to intervene on China’s behalf and decided to take a neutral stand. After which in September India and Russia announced “Indra”, the eleventh edition of the biennial naval exercise in the Andaman islands close to the Strait of Malacca. In October, Russia signed an Inter-governmental agreement to deliver the S-400 missile defense system to India. Russia, earlier in June had suspended a similar deal with China. Moreover, Russia has decided to develop its 5G technology while snubbing the Chinese tech-giant Huawei.
Russia, since the 2014 sanctions imposed by the United States, has been taken on for a ride by China. It was forced to engage in various trade deals with China, at the same time incurring heavy losses to keep its economy afloat. Therefore, Russia’s latest snub to China’s appeals has not been unprecedented. Putin’s actions are proof that Russia is not even a bit concerned about the QUAD as long as it can get out of Chinese dependency.
The most startling admission that China refuses to admit is Russia’s position on Quad. It has never spoken against the formulation of the organization but has only mentioned that it should be more open and inclusive, maybe hinting towards its own desire to join the exclusive power group in the future.
The writing is on the wall for the CCP. The current scenario in world politics does not look healthy for a Chinese powerplay. Humiliated in Africa, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Philippines, the Maldives, Sudan, failure to assert itself even as the US recedes its influence and now getting the cold shoulder from its only major ally is a sign that China refuses to take into account. Global Times’s delusion of a Chinese superpower is starting to crack and it seems that the Chinese world domination flight will be grounded even before it takes off.