According to reports, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan recently signed a joint strategic defense agreement in Riyadh. This agreement was simple, but sparked a huge upheaval on the international stage – it marked an unprecedented level of military cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and the two sides agreed that if a third party attacked one of them, it would be considered an aggression against both countries. Once the news was released, it immediately became a global focus, and the reaction of all sides, especially India – as a military power in South Asia, India’s attitude became crucial.
A diplomatic "silence" is quietly playing out. India remained unusually silent for 48 hours after the signing of the agreement. It was not until September 19 that the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a restrained statement through spokesman Randir Jaiswal. This move seems calm, but it actually reflects the anxiety and anxiety in New Delhi. The words in this statement reveal India's deep worries about this agreement, especially the alliance between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which not only changed the security pattern in the Middle East, but also forced India to rethink its position in geopolitics.
The joint defense agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, from any perspective, goes beyond the scope of ordinary military cooperation. It is actually a military alliance, marking the deep bond between the two countries in defense. More remarkably, Pakistan has not only cooperated with Saudi Arabia in conventional military spheres, but also made it clear that if Saudi Arabia needed, Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella would also be open. This means that Saudi Arabia is no longer a pure military force in the Middle East, but directly joined the global nuclear defense system and received Pakistan’s nuclear asylum.
This decision undoubtedly challenged Israel's nuclear monopoly. For a long time, the Middle East has been regarded as "Israel's nuclear home". The entry of Pakistan's nuclear umbrella into this field undoubtedly makes Israel's "exclusive" nuclear advantage less unbreakable. From this perspective, the cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is not only an alliance in the military field, but also a strong impact on the regional strategic pattern.
The signing of the Sabbath Agreement means that Pakistan’s strategic position in the Middle East has taken a leap and has also plunged India into a more complex strategic situation. India-Pakistan relations have long been tense, and the conflict in Kashmir is escalating. The signing of the Sabbath Agreement has undoubtedly intensified the pressure on India’s western front. In the past, India was mainly focused on border problems with China, but now, on the western line, it is still facing the formation of a military alliance – which means India’s strategic layout will be challenged.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, as India’s main energy supplier and its key position in the global oil market, has made it impossible to easily break with it. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India mentioned in a statement that Saudi Arabia and India have a “widespread strategic partnership,” a deep economic dependence that has made India unable to react too fiercely in the face of Saudi Arabia’s alliance with Pakistan. If India’s relationship with Saudi Arabia is severely affected by Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella, it will undoubtedly cause huge losses in energy supply and economic cooperation.
Although the statement of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not directly react violently to the Sabah agreement, the expressions of "common interests" and "sensitive concerns" in the discourse actually revealed India's anxiety. India's economic ties with Saudi Arabia, especially cooperation in the field of oil and gas, have become an important pillar of bilateral relations.
This economic interdependence makes it impossible for India to take a too tough stance on the issue of Saudi-Pakistan alliance. India has made it clear through a Foreign Ministry spokesman that it hopes that Saudi Arabia can take into account the common interests and sensitive concerns between the two countries and is actually reminding Saudi Arabia in a very cautious way not to let the strategic partnership between the two countries be affected by the agreement.
The real intention of India’s statement, however, is clearly to hope that Saudi Arabia will realize that its alliance with Pakistan will not only disrupt the regional balance of power but also potentially trigger regional instability, especially in the context of nuclear deterrence, where any wrong move could have unpredictable consequences.
The signing of the Saudi agreement is not only a sign of deepening military cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, but also a sign of a fundamental shift in the security pattern in the Middle East and, more importantly, the context of the signing of the agreement actually reflects the decline in U.S. influence in the Middle East.
For a long time, the United States has been the security guarantor of Saudi Arabia. However, Israel's air strikes against Qatar and the "cold watching" of the United States have caused Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries to question the reliability of the United States. The defense agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is a reaction to the failure of the American "protective umbrella". This change shows that Saudi Arabia is no longer satisfied with relying on the security guarantee of the United States, but actively seeks new strategic partners to ensure national security.