In his latest book, "Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love," former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claims that India's decision to join the Quad coalition was a result of China's aggressive actions. India, which has traditionally charted an independent course on foreign policy, found itself forced to change its strategic posture due to the actions of China.
"The country (India) has always charted its own course without a true alliance system, and that is still mostly the case. But China's actions have caused India to change its strategic posture in the last few years," Pompeo wrote.
"In June 2020, Chinese soldiers clubbed twenty Indian soldiers to death in a border skirmish. That bloody incident caused the Indian public to demand a change in their country's relationship with China," he added.
"India banned TikTok and dozens of Chinese apps as part of its response. And a Chinese virus was killing hundreds of thousands of Indian citizens. I was sometimes asked why India had moved away from China, and my answer came straight from what I heard from Indian leadership: 'Wouldn't you?' times were changing - and creating an opportunity for us to try something new and pull the US and India more closely together than ever," Pompeo further said.
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The Quad, which is made up of the US, Japan, India, and Australia, was formed in 2017 to counter China's behavior in the Indo-Pacific region. Pompeo explains in his book how the Trump administration was able to bring India into the group. He notes that China's partnership with India's rival Pakistan as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as a violent border skirmish in June 2020, led to a shift in India's relationship with China.
Pompeo describes India as the "wild card" in the Quad, due to its founding on socialist ideology and its alignment with neither the US nor the Soviet Union during the Cold War. However, he notes that China's actions have caused India to change its strategic posture in recent years.
In his book, Pompeo also praises the leadership of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is credited as the "father of the Quad," and former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for standing up against Chinese aggression. He notes that the Japanese and Australian legs of the Quad were strong and getting stronger with US support.
China's actions in the South China Sea and East China Sea, where it is involved in contested territorial disputes and has built up and militarized many of the islands and reefs it controls, have also been a source of tension in the region. These areas are rich in natural resources and vital to global trade.
Pompeo's book also touches on the loss of Shinzo Abe as a global leader of extraordinary courage and vision and how it was a loss for the world that he was assassinated in 2022.
