NEWDELHI: ‘The quad’, a proposed alliance among the United States, India, Japan and Australia to counter a rising Chinese presence in the Indo-pacific, does not have a military dimension, India’s senior-most military commander said on Wednesday.

“What do you think a military dimension will achieve? India is the only country in the Quad with a land border with China. In case of conflict…nobody will come and hold your hand,” navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said, playing down the larger role the alliance was supposed to play in due course.

As chairman of the chiefs of staff committee , he is the seniormost military commander.

He was responding to a question at the Vivekananda International Foundation after delivering a talk on the role of the Indian Navy in a changing security environment.

Mooted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Quad came up in 2007, but it held its first meeting in Manila only last November.

Lanba said the countries involved in the Quad, such as Australia, were dependent on China for their economic welfare.

“We are not going down that road and don’t there is a need to give a military dimension to the Quad,” Lanba said.

Responding to a question, Lanba said the Maldives was a challenge for India at the moment as the present regime there was inclined towards China.

The term Indo-pacific gained currency recently, with its usage growing across diplomatic and security circles in US, Australia, India and Japan.

HT Correspondent letters@hindustantimes.com

Courtesy: Hindustan Times: 24 May 2018