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Australia to host Malabar Exercises for QUAD navies off Sydney
Facing Chinese belligerence in the Indo-Pacific, India and Australia are all set to cement bilateral ties with maritime defence cooperation on top of the agenda.
After Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spent over one hour on India’s second aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, the powerful QUAD navies are all set for advanced naval exercises under the Malabar series off the coast of Sydney this year. The dates and schedule of the Malabar exercises are being worked out and will be announced soon.
Since 2020, the annual Malabar naval exercises are participated by QUAD navies with the 2022 exercise held in the East China Sea.
Australian PM Albanese apparently was floored by the massive public reception hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Ahmedabad cricket stadium as well as the military reception aboard INS Vikrant and both countries are all set to further cement their bilateral ties. It is understood that India is looking towards Australia as a major defence partner with close maritime ties as both countries are tied together as neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region.
While India and Australia will deepen their ties over education, mobility and resources, the two partners are looking for a long-term defence cooperation as they both face belligerence from China in the Indo-Pacific. The two countries are part of the QUAD forum with the US and Japan being the other members of the grouping.
With the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos Junior doing a 180-degree turn on China and offering five more bases to the US apart from five existing ones, it will be interesting to see whether Manila also decides to join the Malabar naval exercises off the coast of Sydney.
Even though Australia is part of the AUKUS strategic alliance and the US has a forward naval base at Yokosuka in Japan, India with its strategic autonomous outlook is a close partner of all the three countries in the Indo-Pacific. Australia on its part is reciprocating India’s bilateral overtures and is keen to cement across the board ties with New Delhi.
Prime Minister Albanese is scheduled to hold a bilateral dialogue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi today in the Capital and exchange a slew of bilateral agreements. However, the reflection of deepening bilateral ties between the two countries go beyond the agreements as there is a genuine desire on both sides to join hands.
