UPSC Essentials | Daily subject-wise quiz : International Relations MCQs on Vandenburg Resolution, Mekong River drainage basin and more (Week 60)

1. Both the countries are members of Commonwealth countries.

2. Both the countries have parliamentary democracies with similar legal systems.

3. Both are members of QUAD, a regional grouping.

4. Both the countries are members of the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative.

The above mentioned statements refer to which group of countries?

(a) India-Australia

(b) India-Japan

(c) India-United States

(d) India-United Kingdom

QUESTION 2

Which of the following countries is going through decades-old electricity crisis and is blamed for the widespread corruption and mismanagement that led to the country’s worst economic crisis?

(a) Lebanon

(b) Qatar

(c) Kuwait

(d) Syria

QUESTION 3

Consider the following pairs:

Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

QUESTION 4

Vandenburg Resolution was recently in news. It is associated with:

(a) World Trade Organisation (WTO)

(b) International Monetary Fund (IMF)

(c) North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

(d) World Bank (WB)

QUESTION 5

Consider the following countries:

1. Laos

2. Cambodia

3. Vietnam

4. China

5. Bangladesh

The Mekong River drainage basin covers:

(a) 1, 2 and 4 only

(b) 1, 2, 4 and 5 only

(c) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4 only

ANSWERS TO THE MCQs

1. (a)

FYI:

— The ratification of the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) by the Australian parliament demonstrates India’s skill in trade negotiations.

— India and Australia are Commonwealth countries, and parliamentary democracies with similar legal systems.

— India and Australia also are members of the Quad.

— The countries are also part of a trilateral Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

2. (a)

FYI:

— Lebanon’s political class, fuel firms, and private electricity providers rejected a proposal from gas-rich Qatar to build three renewable energy power plants to alleviate the country’s decades-long electricity issue.

— Lebanon’s electricity issue was exacerbated when the country’s catastrophic economic downturn began in October 2019.

— Power outages frequently last for much of the day, leaving many people reliant on costly private generators that run on diesel and emit pollution.

— Qatar promised to build three power plants with a capacity of 450 megawatts — or approximately 25% of the small nation’s needs — in 2023, but Lebanon has yet to respond.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

3. (d)

FYI:

Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer.

4. (c)

FYI:

— The Vandenburg Resolution was a stepping stone to NATO. The United States considered that, in addition to the Brussels deal signatories, the deal would be more effective if it included North Atlantic countries such as Canada, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, and Portugal.

— From the American perspective, these countries served as linkages between the Atlantic Ocean’s two coastlines, allowing for military intervention if necessary.

— The treaty was signed in Washington DC on April 4, 1949. It had 12 signatories initially: the US, UK, Canada, France, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy, Iceland, and Luxembourg.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

5. (d)

FYI:

— The Mekong River, which flows through nearly 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) of Asian countryside, is a vital source of fishing, farming, and transportation for around 65 million people.

— The Mekong originates in the Tibetan Plateau in China and flows to the South China Sea through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

— However, infrastructure projects aimed at meeting the energy demands of Southeast Asia’s rapidly expanding societies are on the increase in the Mekong. The intervention is being felt downstream, putting further strain on the river’s ecology and livelihoods.

Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer.

Previous Daily Subject-Wise-Quiz

Daily subject-wise quiz — Polity and Governance (Week 60)

Daily Subject-wise quiz — History, Culture, and Social Issues (Week 60)

Daily subject-wise quiz — Environment, Geography, Science and Technology (Week 60)

Daily subject-wise quiz — Economy (Week 60)

Daily subject-wise quiz – International Relations (Week 59)

Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter and stay updated with the news cues from the past week.