India and Australia upgraded their strategic ties, on 4 June, to a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’, and signed military logistics and defence science and technology agreements among the nine bilateral cooperation documents signed following a discussion at a virtual summit meeting between prime minister Narendra Modi and Australian prime minister Scott Morrison.
This move to build on their tactical intent to work closely in the Indo-Pacific region could easily rile a suspicious China.
The two Indo-Pacific nations also announced that they would work together in ensuring “rules-based maritime order” in the region, an euphemism that refers to Beijing disregarding the international laws of the seas and its aggressive posturing on territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Relationship between the two nations was upgraded to a ‘Strategic Partnership’ level in 2009. Since then, both countries have expanded their cooperation in a range of key areas.
In its White Paper on Foreign Policy in 2017, Australia recognised India as the “pre-eminent maritime power among Indian Ocean countries” and a “front-rank partner of Australia”.
Mutual Logistics Support
The ‘Arrangement concerning Mutual Logistics Support‘ (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.
The ‘Implementing Arrangement concerning cooperation in Defence Science and Technology to the MoU on Defence Cooperation’ was also signed.
India is a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue along with Australia, Japan, and the US. With these agreements in place it is expected that Australia would be invited for the annual multilateral exercise Malabar comprising of India, US and Japan. The third edition of AUSINDEX-2019 was held in the Bay of Bengal in April 2019.
The other pacts will provide for bilateral cooperation in areas of cyber and cyber-enabled critical technology, mining and minerals, military technology, vocational education and water resources management.
Modi and Morrison also decided to announce a ‘Shared Vision for Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Region‘ to “harness opportunities and meet challenges together” as ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partners‘.
Joint Declaration
The joint declaration by the two countries read as follows:
“India and Australia reiterate their commitment to promoting peace, security, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, which is vital for the world…
“India and Australia are committed to supporting a rules-based maritime order that is based on respect for sovereignty and international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“India and Australia have common concerns regarding the strategic, security and environmental challenges in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain. These include activities and actions in the maritime domain that are inconsistent with international law, particularly UNCLOS, including terrorism, piracy, drugs and arms smuggling, irregular migration, people smuggling, trafficking in human beings, poaching of marine species, narcotics trafficking and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The region’s environmental challenges, such as marine pollution, climate change, ocean acidification, shortage of potable water, loss of habitat due to storm surges and saline water intrusion, are also of shared concern.
“India and Australia share a strong bilateral relationship, underpinned by ongoing cooperation across many areas of mutual interest. This cooperation includes the Australia-India Framework for Security Cooperation, regular dialogues involving Ministers responsible for foreign, defence and trade policy, and a broad range of senior officials meetings, such as the Defence Policy Talks, Australia-India Maritime Dialogue and Navy to Navy Staff Talks.
“India and Australia will work together bilaterally, regionally and multilaterally, and in minilateral arrangements, to support regional architecture in line with their shared values and interests. India and Australia reiterate their commitment to ASEAN centrality and unity and will strengthen their coordination in regional and multilateral fora, such as the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting-Plus (ADMM+), the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORS), the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), to achieve their shared vision for maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. India and Australia welcome the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.
“In this context, India and Australia will work closely to develop, with all interested partners, the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 14th East Asia Summit on 4 November 2019 at Bangkok. Through this Initiative, they will endeavour to improve the management of the shared oceanic domains, including in key areas of cooperation such as preserving the maritime ecology and reducing the impact of marine pollution (especially plastics); maritime security; sustainable use of marine resources; capacity building and resource sharing; disaster risk reduction and management; science, technology and academic cooperation; and trade, connectivity and maritime transport.
“Recognising that India and Australia have a shared interest in promoting maritime security and safety, they will deepen navy-to-navy cooperation and strengthen maritime domain awareness in the Indo-Pacific region through enhanced exchange of information. Both countries will also work to enhance civil maritime cooperation between law enforcement agencies and coast guard cooperation.
“Given the importance they attach to ensuring sustainable use of living and non-living marine resources in the Indo-Pacific region, in accordance with international law, they commit to protecting the Indo-Pacific marine environment and reducing the impact of marine pollution, particularly plastics, and climate change.
“India and Australia will work jointly towards implementation of an Action Plan with specific measures to advance their bilateral maritime cooperation in line with this Vision.”
Comments
Connected by the Commonwealth as well as the Indian Ocean, India and Australia have traditionally enjoyed good relations.
Though China apparently did not figure in the talks, it was clear that the Indo-Australian bonhomie was partly influenced by their not-so-friendly relations with the former. India’s neighbour is keeping it on tenterhooks with brazen muscle-flexing along the Line of Actual Control, while Australia has been vociferously demanding a probe into China’s handling of the Covid pandemic. With China throwing its weight around in the Indo-Pacific, India and Australia have come out with a shared vision for maritime cooperation and stability in the region. Their support for a rules-based maritime order carries a stern message for China: respect sovereignty and international law, particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
India has previously signed logistics support agreement, called Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement, with the United States in 2016 under which the two nations’ military assets such as warships will receive reciprocal cashless supplies while docked at each other’s port. The two nations have also pursued the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) since 2012 for cooperation on military technology joint development and production. The two nations, along with Japan, hold an annual trilateral naval exercise, Malabar, in which Australia has previously participated.
The Indian Ocean Region is now becoming the new area of focus after South China Sea and it is imperative for India to augment security so that the blue economy involving fishing, mineral and energy exploration can be supported.
After the South China Sea, the IOR has become an important theatre for activity and national security plans need to cater to this. There has been increasing concern over the past few years on the upswing in Chinese activity in the Indian Ocean Region. Besides creation of infrastructure in nations like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, China has activated its first overseas base in Djibouti and has been conducting regular patrols in the region.
Chinese movement includes nuclear submarine patrols and frequent port visits to Pakistan as well. Officials believe it is only a matter of time before the first Chinese aircraft carrier group sets sail for the region as the PLA Navy has been rapidly expanding its reach.
The bilateral economic engagement too has been on an upswing in the last few years. According to official data, the trade between the two countries was around USD 21 billion in 2018-19.
Australia’s cumulative investment in India is about USD 10.74 billion whereas India’s total investment in Australia is USD 10.45 billion. Australian Super Pension Fund has invested USD 1 billion in India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund. In the last few years, both the countries have been focusing on expanding maritime cooperation.
