TOPIC –Another groupingIn its first reaction to AUKUS, the new partnership between Australia, the U.S. and the U.K., India has made it clear that it does not welcome the announcement, nor does it wish to link AUKUS to Indian interests. Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla said that AUKUS, which was launched a week before the first in person summit of leaders of the Australia India Japan U. S. Quadrilateral, will not affect plans to strengthen the Quad. He called them two very different groupings, describing AUKUS as a security alliance, and indicating that security is not the Quad’s main focus. Brushing aside criticism from China and Iran on the plans within the partnership for the U.S. and the U.K. to develop nuclear
propelled submarines for Australia, he said that India does not see AUKUS as nuclear
proliferation. But New Delhi has noticed the protests from others, especially France that has lost a
lucrative submarine deal in the bargain, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to reach out to their French counterparts. France has recalled its Ambassadors to the U.S. and Australia, accusing them of betrayal by negotiating their defense partnership with the U.K., and without informing European allies. The EU and ASEAN countries have been reserved in their reactions. U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have now spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron, but it remains to be seen whether the damage to ties can be reversed. Given the different reactions and widespread impact of the AUKUS partnership, India’s non-committal note is not surprising. There are two sides to it. The promising possibilities of the alliance include strengthening the Quad’s agenda to keep the Indo-Pacific region free, open and inclusive. The alliance could also extend itself to
bolstering the Quad’s efforts on
maritime exercises, security and efforts in countering COVID19, climate change, cooperating on critical technologies, and building
resilient supply chains. More broadly, the U.S.’s threefold messaging on AUKUS seems to be in line with India’s hopes: that “America is back” after four years of
retrenchment from global issues; is as engaged with its Indo-Pacific
flank as it is with its transatlantic flank, and is focused on partnerships with fellow democracies in particular. But the concerns over AUKUS are considerable too: that the timing of the announcement of the deal just before the Quad leaders meet could overshadow the latter, and also signal that the U.S. is
relegating the Quad to less substantive issues in the Indo-Pacific. With the sudden announcement of AUKUS, a worry for New Delhi is that the U.S. is now promoting a security partnership with its “Anglo-Saxon” treaty allies that it is excluded from, possibly upsetting the balance of power in the region, and setting off new tensions to India’s east, adding to the substantial
turbulence in India’s west caused by the developments in Afghanistan.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
Propelled (verb) – Drive or push something forwards
Synonyms –Fling, pitch, shoot, impel, bung
Antonyms – Dissuade, hinder, repress, discourage, stop
Proliferation (noun) – Growth by the rapid multiplication of parts
Synonyms – Creep, distension, augmentation, quadrupling, accrual
Antonyms – Abatement, constriction, diminution, condensing, drop-off
Lucrative (adjective) – Producing a great deal of profit
Synonyms – Thriving, flourishing, booming, fruitful, bankable
Antonyms – Flopping, waning, wrecked, inutile, slumping
Bolstering (verb) – Support or strengthen
Synonyms – Augment, brace, buttress, fortify, stiffen
Antonyms – Condemn, perpetrate, agitate, impede, manacle
Maritime (adjective) – Bordering on the sea
Synonyms – Pelagic, thalassic, seafaring, nautical, abyssal
Antonyms –Non-aquatic, terrestrial, shore, land-dwelling, earthbound
Resilient (adjective) – Able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions
Synonyms – Stalwart, gritty, rugged, feisty, robust
Antonyms – Defeatist, feeble, effete, fragile, frail
Retrenchment (noun) – The reduction of costs or spending in response to economic difficulty
Synonyms –Diminution, cutback, attenuation, stinginess, abstemiousness
Antonyms –Prodigality, imprudence, unthrift, exorbitance, squandering
Flank (noun) – The side of a person’s or animal’s body between the ribs and the hip
Synonyms – Pleuron, haunch, hunkers, posterior, buns
Antonyms –Rupture, secede, split, fissure, snap
Relegating (verb) – Assign an inferior rank or position to
Synonyms –Denigrate, attenuate, devalorize, snub, disrate
Antonyms –Elevate, mend, exalt, repatriate, disenchant
Turbulence (noun) – A state of conflict or confusion
Synonyms –Turmoil, commotion, frenzy, ferment, tumult
Antonyms –Serenity, tidiness, truce, stagnation, steadiness
