As US and China intensify their rivalry, other countries face tough choices
As US and China intensify their rivalry, other countries face tough choices
By speaking last week on the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), two top US officials sent a clear message that Washington views India-China border tensions as part of a wider geopolitical contest. , On a visit to New Delhi, US Army Pacific Commander General Charles A Flynn described the level of Chinese activity in eastern Ladakh as “eye-opening” and questioned its intentions. Then, at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the region’s most high-profile security event, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin said Beijing was continuing to “tighten its position” at the border. He drew a link between China’s fishing activities in the East China Sea, advanced weapons placement on man-made islands in the South China Sea, and its LAC actions as part of a “coercive and aggressive approach” to territorial claims. He underlined that the Biden administration viewed the Indo-Pacific as its “priority theater of operations” and “the center of American grand strategy.” The LAC remarks prompted speculation that China’s foreign ministry accused the US of “adding fuel to the fire”.
June 15, 2022, will mark the second anniversary of the violent Galwan Valley conflict, which also marked the lowest point in bilateral relations in several decades. American officials seem to have little chance of an imminent solution after two years and 15 rounds of talks, except for the curious details that US officials have recently been eager to say publicly about the as-yet-unresolved crisis. . At the Shangri-La Dialogue, to which New Delhi did not send high-level political representation, the Chinese Defense Minister, General Wei Fenghe, alleged that it was India that “sent people to the Chinese side of the region”. He also added that both sides were working on maintaining good relations, but with India and China further consolidating areas, a complete de-escalation is unlikely. By highlighting the border, the US is making its case for the region that its allies and partners need to come together to rein in China’s behavior. New Delhi, for its part, will face more expectations to take a stand on China’s actions, beyond the bilateral sphere. India is, as of now, the only one of the four Quad countries to refrain from taking public positions on issues such as Taiwan and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Beijing is pointing to the US and the Quad as destabilizing forces, viewing the Quad as a nascent “Asian NATO”, a label its members reject. New Delhi would like to say that it has already chosen its side in this geopolitical struggle – that is, its own. But the reality is that countries may be faced with increasingly difficult choices as they navigate the intense rivalry between the world’s two biggest powers.