Events followed in rapid succession. First the announcement of the birth of the extended trilateral security alliance between the US, the UK and Australia (AUKUS), then US President Joe Biden's first address at this year's UN General Assembly and last but not least the first summit in-person of the so-called Quad, comprising of the US, India, Japan and Australia in the US.
| An overview of the Quad leaders' summit in Washington on September 24. Photo: VNA |
All is about world politics and geopolitics, about the globalized world and Indo-Pacific. They have the world on tenterhooks. It is about a new geopolitical game which determines the future of the world and in which the Four would like and try them almost to become the main players.
China has never been explicitly named by them as their rival to be contained but everybody in the world supposes or believes it surely is. It might be true but China definitely isn't the only one reason for the Four or the Three to undertake tremendous and visible efforts to form alliances and to create multilateral cooperation frameworks to structure the big Indo-Pacific region.
Their aim is obviously to shape a new order in this vast region, both politically and economically as well as in all security-related aspects. They take into account that China undoubtedly feels to be more their main contrahent than their possible partner and to be put aside rather than included. The Quad's ambitions are obviously to be the core and the pillars of this new order.
After the Quad's first summit in-person in the US, it is clearer about how they intend to shape the Indo-Pacific region. Their common communique after their encounter contained only all already known contents but sent two clear and strong messages into the world.
The first one was that they fully agreed with each other on how they intend to structure the Indo-Pacific region. The second one was that they together will become the deciding and driving force for shaping the future of this region.
In their perception, the Quad would be built from a still loose forum into an organization or just gathering which should be more and more with the passing of times institutionalized. AUKUS or other specific alliances, networks or agreements between two, three, four or more other partner inside as well as outside the region are and will be only useful supplements to the Quad.
The Indo-Pacific occupies now top-priority in strategic calculations and policies of the Quad. But whether the Four would succeed depends not only on themselves. From ambitions to reality is a very long and rocky road to be gone.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by Ambassador Tran Duc Mau are of his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Hanoi Times.
