Since US President Joe Biden took his office, Indo-Pacific is in news. After AUKUS, now “Indo-Pacific Framework” has been announced, indicating Biden’s obsession with consolidating its position in the Indo-Pacific region by bringing more partners on board.
US-led developments in connection with its Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) are a critical issue for Pakistan also because the US using the diction of “achieving the goal of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific” is actually encircling China’s trade routes, having direct security implications for Pakistan. This situation surely creates a further trust deficit between Pakistan and the United States. Economically weak Pakistan cannot go for heavy procurement to place its Navy at par with India but it cannot sit in silence either. What are possible options left with Pakistan are its additional dependence on China and enhancing Pak-Russia cooperation in the field of defence.
We remember in his very first speech US President Biden pledged to contain China; he affirmatively claimed that the US series of wars on terror created a clear deficit in America’s global presence otherwise. US military engagements provided open ground for China to excel and expand. Then he declared that from now on we (US) are putting any other matter on the back burner, and we will make China’s containment our priority.
So how a sovereign country not interested in any conflict engagement can be contained and what does even it means. To my understanding by containment of China, the USA means barricading and blocking it from its trade routes and exploiting the fault lines within and on the global sphere related to it, which requires massive propaganda campaigns alongside the pocket formations.
The USA is creating pockets in the Indo-Pacific with different names, we are familiar with QUAD, a Strategic dialogue-based formation including, the USA, Japan, Australia, UK, and India. The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for cooperation in signals intelligence to block the flow of information to and from China. AUKUS, is a trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, announced on 15 September 2021 for the Indo-Pacific region. Under the pact, the US and the UK will help Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines. The aftermath being totally ignored in terms of nuclear proliferation this military formation is counting on heavy military presence in the Indo-Pacific with the sole purpose of intimidating or in case engaging China into a full-fledged war. Though considering all this not enough US President in his recent visit to the Pacific region announced another formation with a catchy name, “Indo-Pacific Framework” which comprises of USA, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, New Zealand, and Brunei.
When the war will come in Indo-Pacific you people will be in the direct line of fire and your so-called savior with catchy slogans has a very bad habit of running from the scene with yet another catchy Face saving higher goal.
For the purpose of semiotic analysis, all these alliances have mottos, such as for AUKAS, it is sharing ideals, and enduring peace, for Five Eyes, it is signal sharing for the greater good apart from the actual reason of their existence in the first place.
This new breed of formation also claims something super special for the indo-pacific region as it states, “We share a commitment to a free, open, fair, inclusive, interconnected, resilient, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region that has the potential to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth……..In order to prepare our economies for the future, we are launching the process to establish the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for prosperity.
There is a detailed description available on the White House Official page but for me, the most interesting statement is “We invite participation from additional Indo-Pacific partners that share our goals, interests, and ambitions for the region”.
With the American ambition of maintaining its hegemonic presence, serving its interest, and the goal of containing China, all who are interested in becoming a party are welcome.
This specific invitation can be related to Taiwan’s de facto embassies in eastern Europe, the countries that were once under USSR’s stronghold got a replacement as the USA under the pretense of savior which was the USSR or Russia is now for that matter can never enjoy.
Through ample rolling of dollars, the temporary benefits can be achieved, countries going through tough economic times provide these facilitations but these arrangements are not permanent it is just like giving a kid a stick to poke the sleeping bear, but if the bear wake up the stick provider deserts the kid by leaving him on his own. I can provide an example of Ashraf Ghani holding that same stick willingly being mischievous that his back is (was) covered but in reality, he had to run hard to save himself as the promise keeper of coving his back was long gone, similar happened in Ukraine, which Ukrainians now are admitting that we have predicted this war to be fought for us by our so-called saviors but we were left alone.
History (and very recent history) has a clear message for all these underdeveloped countries who are becoming parties in the game of poking the bear; just remember when the bear will wake up you will find yourself facing him alone, the only shared ideal, goals and mutual interests you can get out of it are those few dollars what you have been promised other than that you are selling your elegance for an ambition, an interest, and an ultimate goal of containing China, is not worthy of your own wellbeing. When the war will come in Indo-Pacific you people will be in the direct line of fire and your so-called savior with catchy slogans has a very bad habit of running from the scene with yet another catchy Face saving higher goal.
