NEW DELHI: “The U.S. will continue to build on the Quad which links us to Japan, Australia and India to constrain China,” Ralph A. Cossa, President Emeritus, Pacific Forum in Honolulu, Hawaii says on President Joe Biden’s first foreign policy speech. At the State Department, Biden signalled aggressive approaches to China and Russia, declaring, “We’ll confront China’s economic abuses; counter its aggressive, coercive action; push back on China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance. But we are ready to work with Beijing when it’s in America’s interest to do so.” Cossa feels “we have to be careful when we talk about imposing consequences because though there will be sanctions against Chinese firms and areas where we’re going to compete ferociously with China, there are other areas, global warming, for instance, where we have to cooperate with them.” The WSD-Handa Chair in Peace Studies sees “India as a critical actor… and the quad is a very effective way to constrain China.” Like-minded countries have to tell Beijing “here’s what you have to do if you want to convince us that your rise is going to be peaceful. And here’s what we’re going to do to a China that is rising and is not peaceful,” he adds. On Biden’s push for democracy globally, Cossa says “there’s got to be a fine balance between promoting democracy and interfering in the affairs of others.”
