Naseebullah Khan
The Quadrilateral alliance of India, Israel, United Arab Emirates, and United States of America known as (I2U2) was initially formed in October 2021 following the Abraham accord for the enhancement of mutual cooperations. This alliance is being referred as West Asian Quad. It was also known as international forum for economic cooperation IFEC. The First virtual meeting was held from 13 to 16 July 2022 According to the revealed information, the members states will cooperate in Security, technological cooperation, food security, climate change , Covid_19, Oil production, trade, digital information, infrastructure, Marine security, biotechnology, and transportation sectors. America that had also announced the Indo_Pacific economic framework IPEF of 13 countries including Japan, Australia, Brunai, Indonesia, South korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philpine, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and India in Octobe 2021 for encounteringChina. Is the I2U2 another tact of the USA,s Indo_ Pacific response to China by engaging its allies after the Quad, the B3W, and the Aukus? Will this move be successful to encounter Chinese rise? For this, it must be in mind that China has already billions of dollars trade relations with India and the UAE. In the perspective of ecnomic interests, the US dream of encountering China will remain a dream. Strategically, this alliance focuses to harmess the marine traffic of Strait of Hormuz, Bab al Mandob, and Suiz Canal region, from where out of 8 maritime checkpoints of the world, three of them lie closer aroud Israel and the UAE. From strait of Hormuz one third of natural liquified gas and 25 percent of global Oil passes. While, Bab al Mandob is another pertinent marine trade route between Mediterranean sea and Indian Ocean via red sea and Suiz canal, from where, estamatedly, 60 ships pass daily. The Suez Canal is another lnter trade link between Europe and Asia, from where around 55 ships pass daily. Here, a question arises as how effective this alliance would be as two of its members have warm relations with China? Will they sacrifice their immense trade with China by encountering it for the accomlishment of the USA designs of encirclment of China? The answers are uncertain. For instance, the trade relations between China amd Israel, and between China and the UAE have been gigantic. China was the leading trade partner of the UAE in 2021 with a trade volume of AED57 billion. Apart from this, a Chinese military base that was under construction in 2021 which was located 50 km away from Abu Dhabi on the port of Khalifa was abandoned by the UAE after the US pressure and concerns. As far as Chinese trade with Israel is concerned, in comparative terms, it constituted 10.7 percent of Israel’s global trade, which amounted to 110.8 billion USD and about 45 percent of Israel’s trade with Asia. Although, China and India have differences over borders issues but their trade relations are inspirable. In 2021_22 their bilateral trade was 115.42 billion USD.Another side of the I2U2 is Iranian factor. At one side, India has good relations with Iran, on the other side the rest of the membere are not in good terms with it. On the flip side, China has also good relations with Iran. In the present circumstances, will the I2U2 be able to damage Iran? The answer is still uncertain. The ecnomic competition and occupying world markets is at its peak and the I2U2 should also be seen in that paradigm. Unfortunately, this agreement was being signed at a time when Human rights violations of India and Israel were their peak. And the so called champions of Human rights America and Muslim rights the UAE were silent spectators.
