New Delhi: Amid concerns over the newly-established security partnership among Australia, the UK and the US - known as AUKUS - that has raised tensions and sparked a regional arms race, India has said that QUAD and the AUKUS are not groupings of similar nature.
Speaking about the same, Foreign Secretary HV Shringla said that QUAD is designed to cater to the requirements of the Indo-Pacific whereas AUKUS is a security alliance between three countries.
"AUKUS isn't relevant to QUAD and will have no impact on QUAD functioning," he said.
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What Is AUKUS?
Earlier this month, US, the UK, and Australia have announced the creation of a new trilateral security partnership. US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement during a virtual event.
Under AUKUS, the first initiative will be delivering a nuclear-powered submarine fleet for Australia and the three countries will spend as many as 18 months discussing how this capability will be delivered.
Meanwhile, Shringla also informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave for the United States on Wednesday for the QUAD Leaders Summit and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and return to India on September 26.
The Prime Minister be accompanied by a high-level delegation including the External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval.
"The main elements of the program will be the first in-person meeting with US Pres, QUAD Leaders meet & UNGA," Shringla added.
PM Modi-Joe Biden's First In-Person Bilateral Meet
Ahead of the QUAD Summit, PM Modi will also meet US President Joe Biden for the first time (in-person) for bilateral talks.
"In the bilateral with Prime Minister Modi, the two leaders will have the opportunity to talk about the broader threat of counterterrorism and the situation in Afghanistan and how we can work together to fight our common enemy of terrorism, as well as to talk about a range of regional issues and developments where we will have the opportunity to compare notes,” news agency PTI quoted a senior US administration official as saying.
The United States has also said that the bilateral meet will give PM Modi and Biden an opportunity to talk about the threat of terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan, as well as help reinforce and give momentum to the Quad discussion.
PM Modi will participate in the Quad Leaders’ Summit on September 24 and also address the UN General Assembly on September 25.
Biden will host Modi for their first in-person bilateral meeting at the White House on September 24. Later on that day, Biden will host the first-ever in-person Quad Leaders’ Summit at the White House with Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.