Originally Posted by
Cleretic
The Ascians just liked keeping irons in the fire for both instability reasons and as potential Calmaity-causers. Ifrit might cause a potential fire-based Calamity sometime, but even if it doesn't it still keeps the flames of discord burning that they can exploit in other ways.
They probably didn't orchestrate Bismarck's summoning for any specific plan, they just figured that if someday they need an island-eating bird whale, it's better if one's already there to make use of than if they suddenly see a use for one and there's none handy.