India privileging BRIC/RIC over Quad ‘discordant’, says former US top diplomat

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 June 2020, 22:06 GMT]
“This is a good time for India to up its investment in the Quad. The appearance of privileging BRIC/RIC meetings over engagement with likeminded partners is discordant,” tweeted Alice G Wells, who was in charge of South Asian affairs at the US State Department until 01 June 2020. Her comment came on Sunday, four days after the virtual Russia-India-China (RIC) ‘strategic’ triangle meet convened by Russia to influence India towards adopting a multilateralist line above the US-oriented “rules-based order”.

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was also talking about “reformed multilateralism,” in the context of India seeking permanent membership of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

In May 2020, before her retirement, Ms Wells observed that the military cooperation between India and the US had reached unprecedented levels. She added that the Quad was well on its way to becoming one of the premier forums of the Indio-Pacific.

Ms Wells is currently international government relations adviser at ExxonMobil, an influential American multinational oil and gas corporation.

ExxonMobil was capable of determining American foreign policy, according to a 2012 book review by The Telegraph authored by Ian Thomson.

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