US Strongly Engaged In Quad & Indo-Pacific Focus Evident In Security & Defence Strategies: MEA Official Nagaraj Naidu | Video

New Delhi: MEA Additional Secretary Nagaraj Naidu said there was no reason to believe that the US was no longer interested in the Quad. At a special media briefing, Naidu said. “I think the US is very engaged and continues to remain engaged in the Quad,” he said. “You saw that in Secretary Rubio's statement and also acknowledged by the Australian Foreign Minister in her articulation of the amount of importance that the US is paying to the Quad.”

 Naidu also urged skeptics of the US’s role to look at the security documents. “Look at the US focus on the Indo-Pacific through their new national security strategy and their national defence strategy, which would also kind of indicate to you their focus on this region and on the Quad.”

Asked if the constitution of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Cooperation (IPMSC) constituted a militarisation of the Quad, he responded. “This surveillance should not be seen as militarization of the Quad. Neither is IPMDA, the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness,” he said. “The idea today is that the international waterways today are getting clogged. At the same time, there are a lot of gray ships and dark ships around. Countries in the Indo-Pacific sometimes do not have access to such technologies, so Quad partners have come together to buy these technologies, which are expensive.”

The MEA official stated that such work was already in place under the IMPDA, but under the IPMSC it had been given a boost. He said that the US currently circulates data on the Indian Ocean to friendly countries who need it for their security issues. This was not a new practice. What was new here was the IPMSC. “The additional layer that we have added is the IPMSC, which will bring in more technology to bear. So, IPMDA will top up with IPMSC and this will enable us to provide real-time data to partners, particularly, and give them an enhanced picture of the kind of vessels that are operating in the waters. So, that is the whole focus on the IPMSC.”