The world knows Quad as one of the many groups currently being formed by America to corner China. Hence what Ishiba said, It has not caused any problem to anyone except India.
Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is known for his tough stance towards China. As soon as he became the Prime Minister, he stated his foreign priorities in an article published by the Washington-based think tank – Hudson Institute. In this he called for creating an Asian NATO to counter China. Ishiba said that the need to create an Asian NATO stemmed from the fact that America’s power had declined comparatively. So he suggested that the Quad, a group of four countries – America, Australia, Japan and India – should assume the role of Asian NATO. India is uncomfortable with this statement. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said on this that India does not support “Asian NATO”. During an event in Washington, Jaishankar clarified that India is not dependent on military alliances like Japan and has its own unique strategy for regional security. Said- “We are not thinking about any such strategic framework.”
The proposal for formation of Quad had come during the era of Manmohan Singh government. But India refused to join any group whose identity was clearly against any other country (i.e. China). Narendra Modi government decided to change this policy and become a member of Quad. But since then she has been putting a lot of energy into saying that the group is not against any country, but has a positive agenda. To show such an agenda during the Corona epidemic, the talk of vaccine cooperation was publicized. But the remaining three countries have not made such efforts. The world knows Quad as one of the many groups currently being formed by America to corner China. Therefore, what Ishiba said has not caused any problem to anyone except India. Rather, the question that has arisen is that India has related itself to America’s Asia-Pacific strategy, then why is it reluctant to say so?