Australia & India Just Quashed Speculation That Delhi’s Russian Ties Worry The Quad

India is more than capable of balancing between the US-led West's Golden Billion and the BRICS- & SCO-led Global South of which it’s a part.

Speculation has swirled since the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine that India’s defiant decision to comprehensively expand relations with its strategic partner in spite of Western pressure might worry the Quad. Speaking at a press conference in Canberra, the Australian and Indian Foreign Ministers responded as follows when asked about this by a journalist:

“Journalist: Well, Senator Wong is this relationship with Russia holding back the Quad in any way, considering the Quad is talking about the rules‑based order in the Indo‑Pacific? Is there some inconsistency in relation to Russia?

Foreign Minister: Look, I think the Quad is functioning extremely well. I think that the level of strategic trust and strategic consistency amongst Quad partners is deep and firm. And as I said, you know, I note Prime Minister Modi's public comments and we've welcomed them.

Dr Jaishankar: On the Quad, the Quad is a mechanism which is primarily focused on the Indo‑Pacific, and I think that's an area where the convergence of interests between the Quad partners is particularly strong.”

Quite clearly, they just quashed such speculation by reaffirming that their strategic relations through that framework remain strong due to their shared interests in the Indo-Pacific. While it’s true that the US previously attempted to manipulate India into agreeing to anti-Russian rhetoric that it intended to include in a joint Quad statement, Delhi held its ground and thus prevented that from happening.

America will continue pressuring India on its special and privileged strategic relations with Russia, but it won’t go as far as having this fault line between them impede cooperation on their shared interests in managing China’s rise. India is indispensable in this respect, but the US-led West’s Golden Billion – which includes Quad partners Australia and Japan – now know that Delhi isn’t anyone’s proxy.

It’ll never unilaterally concede on what it regards as its objective national interests, neither with Russia nor with China, but will always prioritize their strengthening even in spite of pressure from its Western partners. It’s important to note that while India’s involvement in the Quad continues to grow, Delhi also recently agreed with Beijing to the mutual disengagement of their forces from their disputed frontier.

These developments, which speciously appear contradictory, are actually complementary and reinforce the perception that India’s balancing act is approaching perception instead of becoming trickier like senior fellow at India’s celebrated Observer Research Foundation and Bloomberg columnist Mihir Sharma recently opined. The Australian Foreign Minister’s latest remarks are further evidence of this.

India is therefore more than capable of balancing between the Golden Billion and the BRICS- and SCO-led Global South of which it’s a part. The Russian and Chinese dimensions of this grand strategy complement its American and Quad ones, all of which are aimed at accelerating the global systemic transition to multipolarity by midwifing tripolarity ahead of complex multipolarity (“multiplexity”).

The US’ unipolar hegemony is in decline in parallel with China’s superpower trajectory having been unexpectedly derailed by the Ukrainian Conflict, with both trends contributing to the outcome that India envisages with respect to the global systemic transition’s final form. Only by balancing between the present bi-multipolar intermediary phase’s superpowers can India advance its desired end goal.

This explains why it’s simultaneously seeking to normalize ties with China together with strengthening cooperation with the same US-led Quad that’s trying to manage that ([formerly?] aspiring) superpower’s rise, all while defying American pressure to distance itself from Russia. This is multi-alignment in its most perfect form in modern times and is thus the model that all neutral countries should aspire for.