US President Joe Biden speaks about foreign policy at the State Department in Washington on February 4, 2021. Photo: AFP / Saul Loeb

US President Joseph R Biden rose to power promising to restore America’s purportedly ailing alliances. Allies are needed to assist the United States in curbing the rise of China, Russian aggression, and Iranian revanchism. Yet in the last several weeks, the Biden administration has gone out of its way to alienate potential allies across the world.

Slapping India while asking for its hand
China is expanding its reach into every part of Eurasia, doing its best to muscle out the United States.

American leaders from both political parties have fantasized about creating an “Asian NATO” known as the Quadrilateral Alliance (or simply “the Quad”). Japan, Australia, India, and the United States are to be the basis of the alliance, which is predicated on containing China’s rise and forcing Beijing to adhere to the “rules-based international order.”

India previously resisted American calls to form the Quad, but after China launched an unprovoked incursion on its border last year, India began looking more favorably upon the alliance.

One reason India initially resisted the Quad was New Delhi’s fierce commitment to national independence. Indian leaders have never wanted to become too dependent on any foreign nation for national security. This is an understandable outgrowth of India’s centuries-long experience as a colony of the British Empire.

So while India has striven to move closer to America’s powerful orbit in the Indo-Pacific region, its leaders have also maintained friendly relations with another American rival in Eurasia, Russia. India wants to purchase Russian-built S-400 air defense systems. Washington fears that doing so would prevent the kind of technology sharing that has enabled the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to maintain its edge.

A row between the leaders of India and the United States occurred in March, when the Biden administration reportedly threatened to impose sanctions on India if it went ahead with the purchase of the Russian air defense system. Fortunately, Washington walked back its threat. But the damage was likely already done.

Meanwhile, India seeks to compete with China for power in the aptly named Indian Ocean. China seeks to expand its reach to its west – linking up Chinese power in the Pacific with Chinese interests in Africa. India rightly has a problem with this and is countering Chinese territorial claims with its own.

To any rational thinker in the United States, these bold Indian moves should be encouraged. What’s good for China’s goose should be, after all, good for the gander in the Indo-Pacific region. Yet the Biden administration ordered an aggressive freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) to be conducted not against its Chinese rivals in the region but against its would-be ally, India.

New Delhi will be constantly looking over its geopolitical shoulder, wondering if the Americans are reliable as partners in the long run (we’re not, sadly).

With friends like these, right?

Without India in America’s corner in the Indo-Pacific region, the already daunting task of containing China’s rise will be made nearly impossible. Hectoring and embarrassing potential allies is counterproductive.

Poking allies, though, has become a hallmark of the Biden administration. Former president Donald Trump’s insults were mostly superficial. Biden’s appear to be pointed – and lasting.

Biden throws Israel under the bus
A recorded conversation between Biden administration representative (and former secretary of state under Barack Obama) John Kerry shared classified intelligence about Israeli military operations in Syria that were being directed against Iranian assets there with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations.

This is all part of the ill-conceived Biden administration reset with Iran … which, as it turns out, involves Washington throwing its long-term allies in the Middle East, notably democratic Israel but also the Sunni Arab states, under the bus. The US-Israel intelligence-sharing alliance is a key advantage in America’s overall Global War on Terror. Kerry’s actions may have just undercut that relationship.

Trampling Turkey
The Biden administration has completely botched America’s already dying relationship with Turkey by declaring that the Turks did, in fact, commit the Armenian genocide during the First World War. By publicly recognizing what clearly was one of the gravest human-rights abuses of the 20th century, President Biden has put Turkey’s Islamist leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the defensive.

Turkey is a NATO ally. Losing Turkey, which is a real possibility after years of neglect and mismanagement by successive American administrations, would increase instability in the Middle East and Europe.

Further, alienating Turkey would empower Russia, China, and Iran – all three of which Turkey has been cozying up to over the last decade. While the Armenian genocide was grotesque, acknowledging it in such a public manner at this time was foolish on Biden’s part.

As a Sunni Muslim state, Turkey could prove essential in helping to contain Shiite Iran in the Middle East. Turkey could also be used to balance against Russia’s rise. These prospects are now unlikely. What’s more likely is that Turkey will chart a separate course from NATO and the United States. In so doing, Ankara will help China, Russia, and Iran solidify a Eurasian alliance of anti-American autocrats while weakening the Western alliance.

Biden’s shambolic actions have helped to empower the very same anti-American autocrats in Eurasia it seeks to contain. Today, America is defending its position atop the international system. Thus, as defender, Washington has to play the game right almost all of the time. America’s foes, however, only have to get things right one time.

Biden’s unforced errors are killing America in the grand geopolitical game of the 21st century. Let’s hope Biden can recover from his mistakes fast.

Brandon J Weichert is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower. He is a geopolitical analyst who manages The Weichert Report: World News Done Right. His work appears regularly in The Washington Times and Real Clear Politics. Weichert is a former US congressional staffer who holds an MA in statecraft and national security affairs from the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC, and is an associate member of New College, Oxford University.

Source: https://asiatimes.com/2021/04/biden-losing-friends-and-gaining-enemies/

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Pompeo minced no words on China’s threat to the world — its hegemonic designs, The Wuhan Virus and its constant aggressiveness in the South China Sea, and the on India’s northern borders. He stressed on the need for the US and India to work together to counter the threat posed by Beijing to “security and freedom.” He said in his speech in New Delhi – “Our friendship and commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific was clearly, clearly highly on display when we were in Tokyo this past week and a half for the Quad meeting that Minister Jaishankar and I had with our Australian and Japanese friends earlier this month.”

Pompeo reiterated that the US will stand with India as it confronts threats to its sovereignty and liberty.

Interestingly, he also talked about how India belonged in the UN Security Council and the US will support India’s bid to be in it.

As in the dialogue last year, the joint statement denounced the terror proxies of Pakistan and strongly condemned cross-border terrorism including naming Al Qaeda, ISIS, LeT, Jem and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

Weirdly, The Global Times, a Chinese Communist mouthpiece reported that Chinese experts had said that since most of India’s weapons are from Russia, the US services offered to India may be incompatible. Wishful thinking China.

How can an Eye in the Sky be incompatible? So much for Chinese scientists and their bogus claims.

According to Dawn newspaper which reported on Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) statement, the establishment is clearly worried. It reported- ‘The agreement called Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) was signed at the third edition of India-US 2+2 talks held in Delhi. The accord will enable India to access precision topographical, nautical, and aeronautical data and topographical images from US military satellites on a real-time basis. The data could be used for missiles and armed drones.

It is the eighth agreement signed by the United States and India since they embarked on a strategic partnership in 2005. Pakistani strategists believe that the agreement would increase Pakistan’s strategic dilemma, even though it is being presented as part of efforts to contain China.’

The Foreign Office it seems is very alarmed — “Pakistan has taken note of the signing of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement. Pakistan has been consistently highlighting the threats posed to strategic stability in South Asia as a result of provision of advanced military hardware, technologies, and knowledge to India.”

At least Pakistan had the sense not to suggest that US geospatial intelligence was incompatible with India’s defense requirements!

The fact that Secretary Pompeo is proceeding to Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia after India is significant as the US is clearly working to get allies on board against the Chinese Dragon, especially the countries that have been singed by its fiery breath.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/no-free-lunch/pakistan-china-in-a-funk-by-indias-latest-deals-with-the-us/

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Pakistan Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons built by General Dynamics of the U.S. are on course for joint maneuvers with their Chinese counterparts.    © Reuters

KARACHI — China has signed a defense pact with Pakistan, its old ally, in response to a recent information-sharing pact between India and the U.S.

Gen. Wei Fenghe, China’s defense minister and state councilor, visited Islamabad last week for three days and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance defense cooperation between the Pakistan Army and the People’s Liberation Army.

Unlike the U.S.-India defense arrangement, details of the China-Pakistan pact have not been made public. However, analysts believe it contains new commitments to intelligence-sharing that will help Pakistan track the movements of Indian forces across their tense shared border.

Pakistan made clear the importance of Wei’s visit to mutual defense arrangements by bestowing a prestigious national award on him, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, which is given for outstanding service to the country.

The military diplomacy follows the signing at the end of October of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation by New Delhi and Washington, which gave India’s armed forces access to a wealth of data from U.S. military satellites.

Senator Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, a government ally, said the MOU “will counter the onslaught of India backed by the U.S. and it will give more confidence to Pakistan that in its hour of need Beijing will stand with Pakistan.” He said the understanding draws Pakistan further into China’s orbit as their economies and security interests become more intertwined.

It was also announced that the Pakistani and Chinese air forces will conduct a large joint exercise called Shaheen IX before the end of December. Its predecessor, Shaheen VIII, lasted a fortnight and involved some 50 warplanes, including fighter jets and early warning aircraft, which participated in battle simulations. Shaheen IX is expected to be bigger in all respects.

“The U.S.-India agreement will strengthen New Delhi’s military capacities to monitor Pakistan-based threats,” Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center, told Nikkei Asia. “The China-Pakistan agreement can be viewed as an effort to reduce some of the imbalance in strategic stability in the region prompted by the U.S.-India deal.”

China has recently stepped up defense cooperation arrangements with Pakistan in a robust security alliance that dates from the 1960s.   © Reuters

But that might not be enough to put India and Pakistan on an even footing. “America’s sophisticated, high-quality surveillance and intelligence-related technologies may be of greater quality than China’s,” said Kugelman.

China has backed Pakistan in defense matters since the 1960s, and the latest development is an extension of that alliance. “Without any doubt, China is signaling its support to Pakistan against India,” Jeremy Garlick, an assistant professor of international relations at the University of Economics in Prague, told Nikkei. “China has been committed to supporting Pakistan for decades, and it is indicating that its position is unchanged.”

During his visit, Wei expressed satisfaction with security provided to infrastructure projects in the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $50 billion component in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Behind the scenes, the Chinese may not be so sanguine, however, since troop increases and other security measures have not prevented occasional raids.

“China will worry about the security issue so long as its projects and the Chinese personnel working on them continue to be attacked,” said Kugelman. “Still, security concerns will not prompt Beijing to scale back its investments in Pakistan.”

Source: https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/China-and-Pakistan-ink-military-MOU-to-counter-US-India-pact

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Recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on Chinese troops to “put all (their) minds and energy on preparing for war” on October 13, CNN reported quoting Xinhua. The remarks were made when he was inspecting the Marine Corps of PLA in Chaozhou City, added CNN. Xi ordered the troops to “maintain a state of high alert” and called on them to be “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure, and absolutely reliable”.

India and the US have been long-standing allies, however, China’s confrontation with several countries including Japan, the US, and Australia has raised alarm against China’s expansionist strategy.

During the recent Quad meeting, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called China an aggressor in the “South [China Sea], in the East China Sea, the Mekong, the Himalayas, the Taiwan Straits.”

In an interview, Pompeo said that the Quad countries are developing policies to present a resistance to the threats that China posed to each of the four nations.

“They’ve all seen it, whether it’s the Indians, who are actually having a physical confrontation with the Chinese up in the Himalayas in the northeastern part of India, the Chinese have now begun to amass huge forces against India in the north,” he said. 

“(India) absolutely need the United States to be their ally and partner in this fight,” he added. He also noted that Beijing has stationed “60,000 soldiers against the Indians in the north,” in an interview with Fox News.

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