Australia keen on ties, but not at China’s cost
21 Aug 2007, 0349 hrs IST
NEW DELHI: Australia might not be in favour of a quadrilateral security dialogue with India, US and Japan in the Asia-Pacific region to avoid antagonising prickly China, but it certainly wants to boost bilateral military cooperation with India.
Close on the heels of Australian defence minister Brendan Nelson’s visit to India last month for talks on sharing counter-terrorism, maritime security and other “classified” information, his Navy chief is now in town to take the bilateral defence agenda forward.
With both India and Australia agreeing that there is “a confluence of interests” between them, especially in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), vice-admiral Russell Edward Shalders held talks with Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta, Army chief General J J Singh, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal F H Major and defence secretary Vijay Singh on Monday.
The Australian navy chief will be visiting both the Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam and the Western Naval Command at Mumbai over the next few days for a first-hand look at India’s growing maritime prowess.
Two Australian warships, frigate HMAS Adelaide and tanker HMAS Sirius will be taking part in the five-nation “Malabar” exercise slated between September 4-9 in the Bay of Bengal.
Though the huge exercise will mainly revolve around Indian and US warships, it will also include participation from Japan and Singapore, apart from Australia. While Indian warships have exercised with the other countries before, including the trilateral exercise with US and Japan off Yokosuka near Tokyo Bay in April, this will be the first such intensive combat manoeuvres with Australian warships.
This is an indicator that Australia is finally shedding its long-standing suspicion of India’s growing naval role in IOR.
“Apart from joint exercises, the two nations are now talking about cooperation in ship designing and construction. They are also exchanging notes on capacity building of smaller nations in their respective regions,” said an official.
“The bilateral Maritime Security Operations Working Group and the defence sub-group will also meet soon,” he added.
Having established a broad relationship with China in recent years, Canberra naturally does not want to upset Beijing, which has already opposed the emerging quadrilateral “axis of democracy” in the Asia-Pacific region. Be that as it may, new Chinese capabilities like its anti-satellite weapon test on January 11 have been dubbed “disruptive” in Australia’s new defence strategy blueprint. India, in turn, finds favourable mention.
China miffed as India cements ties with 3 nations
The ‘quadrilateral’ of the United States, Japan, Australia and India has driven China round the bend but New Delhi is swiftly coursing towards fine-tuning its ties with those countries.
Unmoved by Beijing referring to the grouping as “Asian Nato” and the Left’s high-decibel opposition to India kowtowing to the American line, the government seems to be in no mood to tone down its growing strategic and military ties with these nations.
With several bilateral exchanges, high-profile visits and multilateral war games in the pipeline, the days ahead are full of opportunities to foster relations with the US, Japan and Australia, both militarily and otherwise.
In a visit aimed at addressing common security concerns, Vice Admiral Russ E Shalders, chief of the Royal Australian Navy, arrived in New Delhi on a five-day visit on Monday. Shalders was given a presentation on India’s appreciation of the situation in the Indian Ocean region. He met defence secretary Vijay Singh and the three service chiefs.
Australia has been invited to take part in the Indo-US joint naval exercises Malabar 07, which will take place in the Bay of Bengal from September 4-9. It is sending a destroyer, HMS Adelaide and a logistics support ship. Over 20 warships are participating in these war games, with Japan and Singapore also contributing assets to build a climate of confidence.