Chennai: India-Australia relations touched a new level with both the countries elevating their ties to a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’, signing key agreements including a landmark pact for reciprocal access to military bases against the backdrop of their frosty relations with China.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who had to cancel his trip to India in January, 2020 due to the devastating bushfire season in his country, complemented his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for playing an ‘important part’ in stabilising the strategic Indo-Pacific region during the difficult times when they held their first virtual bilateral summit in June.
India and Australia, against the backdrop of their frosty relations with China, unveiled a ‘shared vision for maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific’, a region which has been witnessing growing Chinese military assertiveness triggering concerns among major players.
There has been strain in ties between Australia and China after Canberra pitched for an international probe into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic which is believed to have started in China’s Wuhan city in December 2019.
India and Australia, during the virtual bilateral summit between PM Modi and Scott Morrison in June, decided to upgrade their 2+2 dialogue featuring their foreign and defence secretaries to the ministerial level, sign the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) and another pact on cooperation in the field of mining and rare earth minerals.
The MLSA will allow militaries of the two countries to use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation. India has already signed similar agreements with the US, France and Singapore.
India has been relying heavily on China for critical minerals and the agreement will pave way to source them from Australia, which has one of the largest reserves of strategic minerals.
The two countries, which elevated their ties to a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’ also vowed to deepen navy-to-navy cooperation, noting that they have a shared interest in promoting maritime security and safety in the Indo-Pacific region.
They also called for an early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT). India proposed a draft document on the CCIT at the UN in 1986 but it has not been implemented as there is no unanimity on the definition of terrorism among the member states.
In another landmark in ties, India in October announced that Australia will join the Malabar exercise which effectively means that all the four member countries of the ‘Quad’ or Quadrilateral coalition will be participating in the mega drill.