QUAD TO AUKUS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE REGION AND BEYOND

Abstract

China’s growing status as an economic hegemon and United States’ recent withdrawal from Afghanistan has caused it to be keener in its offshore balancing strategy than ever before. Since the Continent of Asia has remained the most contentious theatre for global power politics in recent past, major powers are not willing to lag behind economically or militarily. Besides Indo-US strategic partnership, US has recently ignited another concern of arms race and the weakening norm of nuclear non-proliferation regime by introducing the AUKUS alliance in parallel to the resurgence of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). Inception of such regional strategic arrangements is directly posing grave threats to regional peace and broader strategic stability. The Indo-US strategic partnership and US leverage has encouraged India to be more aggressive in its hegemonic designs in the region and would likely continue to do so. Consequently, the region and particularly Pakistan, is likely to face all enhanced security challenge which would need to be countered. This paper aims at evaluating the global and regional implications of Quad and the AUKUS, suggesting possible response options for Pakistan to counter the growing Indian aggression in the region.