US’ Legion of Merit award for QUAD architects sends multiple messages

US President Donald Trump’s decision to award his partners in India, Japan and Australia is seen to underline that it was during his time at the White House that these relationships were taken to a different level.

Updated on: Dec 22, 2020, 14:32:29 IST

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By Shishir Gupta

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US President Donald Trump has mainstreamed the QUAD by awarding its original architects Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison with the prestigious Legion of Merit. The US had last awarded Legion of Merit to late Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on September 18, 2020 as the senior most Royal in the Middle-East for bridging divides in the restive region.

US President Donald Trump has conferred the Legion of Merit award on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (Agencies)

The Legion of Merit (Degree of Chief Commander) awarded to Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi

for exceptionally meritorious service as the Prime Minister of the Republic of India from May 2014 to November 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s steadfast leadership and vision have accelerated India’s emergence as a global power and elevated the strategic partnership between the United States and India to address global challenges. His personal engagement expanded United States-India ties across all facets of the relationship, helping to establish a strong foundation for an enduring partnership that is based on shared commitment to freedom, democratic principles, the equal treatment of all citizens, and the rule of law. India is a key partner for the United States in the Indo-Pacific, where the two countries are increasing collaboration to ensure freedom of the seas, open and transparent investment and infrastructure development, secure and reliable digital networks, and good governance. Prime Minister Modi’s personal initiative strengthened the defense partnership between the United States and India, enhancing the United States’ ability to secure joint military cooperation that addressed shared challenges. His efforts to expand India’s economic cooperation with the United States has advanced prosperity, investment and job creation in both countries. Prime Minister Modi’s superior effort, personal leadership, and unwavering commitment to advancing strategic cooperation between the United States and India and promoting global peace and prosperity reflect great credit upon himself, the Indian armed forces, and his country.

ALSO WATCH | Trump confers Legion of Merit award to PM Modi for elevating India-US ties

While the outgoing US president has awarded the Legion of Merit to Modi, Abe and Morrison for their leadership and vision, it can also be interpreted as President Trump telling the world that it was during his time at the White House that these relationships were taken to a different level.

“The Legion of Merit basically mainstreams the QUAD dialogue from an experimental stage and towards institutionalisation of the security architecture. The world has now realised that the real father of QUAD is China, which forced democracies to cement ties due to its aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea, East Ladakh and against Taiwan. It is another matter that India, Australia and Japan’s relationship with the US is bipartisan with a shared vision of democracy and values,” said a senior official.

The QUAD dialogue took shape after China aggravated the dispute with Japan over Senkaku Islands, with India after the transgression on the north banks of Pangong Tso in East Ladakh sector, Australia after imposing trade sanctions and testing nuclear missiles during US naval exercises in the South China Sea. While China calls QUAD a product of 20th century mindset, the fact is that Beijing’s Middle Kingdom concept with tributary states is an imperial expansion concept of 18th century with Belt Road Initiative.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

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