QUAD Military Commanders To Meet On 15 May To Strategise Against China's Growing Hostility In The Indo-Pacific Region

India's Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Anil Chauhan, will travel to Sunnylands, California to take part in a meeting of the top military commanders of Quadrilateral (QUAD) countries.

The military commanders' meeting is coming ahead of the third edition of the QUAD Leaders' Summit, which is scheduled to be held on 24 May in Sydney.

Apart from the General Chauhan, US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John C Aquilino, General Yoshihide Yoshida Chief of Staff, Joint Staff, Japanese Self-Defence Forces and General Angus Campbell, Chief of Defence Force, Australia are also attending the high-level meet.

The meet will focus on security in the Indo-pacific and will be held from 15 to 17 May. The military commanders meeting is coming in the backdrop of the increasing Chinese belligerence against India, Taiwan and nations in the South China Sea.

Indian Navy will also take part in the Malabar exercises 2023 scheduled to be held in August, off the coast of Sydney.

Just five days ago (8 May), China sent eight militia vessels towards the South China Sea (SCS) to intimidate ASEAN nations where an inaugural edition of joint exercise between Indian and ASEAN navies — ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise (AIME 2023) — was being held.

This highlights the ongoing tensions in the South China Sea, where China's territorial claims and aggressive behavior have raised concerns among its neighbors and drawn criticism from the international community.

China claims the entire SCS and areas within the nine-dash line as its own territory, even though the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled against these claims in 2016.

As a result, China has ongoing maritime disputes with all countries in the SCS, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.

“India, after the 2020 PLA aggressions in East Ladakh is convinced that China has no intentions of resolving the boundary issue bilaterally and is putting pressure on India in the Eastern sector particularly in the Siliguri corridor," a senior officer said.

He added, "It is in this background that India has decided to take help from multilateral platforms such as QUAD to rein in the rampant aggression of the PLA on the land as well as the Indo-Pacific”.

The QUAD meeting and Malabar exercises are important steps towards maintaining regional stability and security in the Indo-Pacific.

The ongoing tensions in South China Sea and China's aggressive behaviour underline the need for continued dialogue, cooperation, and coordination among the QUAD countries and other stakeholders in the region.