Australia seeks to Revitalize Indo-Pacific Ties

In Context

• India is one of Australia’s Closest security partners and the government is focused on revitalizing Australia’s Historically deep engagement with our partners across the Indo-Pacific, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister of Australia ahead of visit to India.
  • This is the first high-level visit from Australia after the formation of a new government.

About

• India is one of Australia’s closest security partners and the government is focused on revitalising Australia’s historically deep engagement with our partners across the Indo-Pacific.
• Australia stands ready to work closer with India in support of an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific.
• On concerns for Indo Pacific: The rules-based international order that has brought peace and prosperity to the Indo-Pacific for decades is experiencing pressure, as we face shifts in the geostrategic order.

India-Australia Defense cooperation

• Defence and security cooperation between India and Australia has significantly expanded in the last few years both at bilateral as well as multilateral levels.
• In 2014, both sides decided to extend defence cooperation to cover research, development and industry engagement and agreed to hold regular meetings at the level of the Defence Minister conduct regular maritime exercises and convene regular service-to-service talks
• The first-ever Bilateral Maritime Exercise, AUSINDEX, was conducted in Visakhapatnam (Bay of Bengal) in September 2015.
• In 2018, the Indian Air Force participated for the first time in the Exercise Pitch Black in Australia.
• INS Sahyadri participated in Kakadu, the biennial exercise of the Australian Navy held in 2018, in which 27 nations participated. 
• The 4^th edition of AUSTRAHIND (Special Forces of Army Exercise) was held in September 2019.
• The India-Australia defence relationship now encompasses almost every major function of the military:
  • Strategic dialogues, coordination, and information exchanges.
  • Military exercises involving ground, air, and maritime forces.
  • Exchanges and training.
  • Defense scientific and technological cooperation.
• Quad: India and Australia are also members of the recently formed Quad, also comprising the US, and Japan, to further enhance cooperation and develop partnerships across several issues of common concern.

Recent initiatives were taken by both countries 

• India and Australia have increased interoperability in the maritime domain in recent months. 
• Both sides have signed a ‘Joint Guidance for Navy to Navy Relationship Document’. 
  • Close cooperation in regional and multilateral fora like the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and ASEAN are some of the highlights of the document.
  • The document is aligned to the ‘2020 Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ agreed by Prime Ministers of India and Australia. 
• Expanding bilateral defence relations, India and Australia signed a Mutual Logistics Support Agreement. 
• Australia has also deployed a Liaison Officer at the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) as part of joint maritime efforts.
• India and Australia also have to deal with the disruption in people to people contacts because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• The Defence Ministry’s flagship engagement activity ‘Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2022’ returns to India this year amid the 75th anniversary of India’ s independence.

What is the Indo-Pacific Region (IPR)?

• The Indo-Pacific Region (IPR) encompasses the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two including much of East Asia, South Asia, South East Asia and Oceania.
• India concurs with this definition with South East Asia nations at the centre of the IPR region.
• China considers a narrower version of the IPR, limiting only to the area in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean on either side of the Malacca Straits.

Significance of Indo-Pacific

• Geostrategic:
  • Buffer Zone between Atlantic and Pacific where, as per some analyst, a Great Power competition is going on between USA and China.
  • Emerging zone of regional power conflict such as maritime boundary disputes in the South China Sea (SCS).
  • Emergence of New Powers in the region like Russia, Japan, South Korea, India and the ASEAN.
  • Presence of Strategic Choke Points like – Bab-al-Mandeb and Malacca strait located on the either side of IPR.
  • Strategic Location of India in the region raises concerns regarding maritime security which can be effectively dealt with through the IPR region.
•  Geopolitical:
  • Presence of large population (almost 50% of the world) with diverse culture in the region.
  • Presence of the world’s 7 out of 10 largest armies.
  • Presence of several regional security forums such as ASEAN Regional Forum and emerging Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD).
  • Existence of Diamond of Democracies viz. India, Japan, USA and Australia in the region.
• Geo-economic:
  • IPR consists of biggest Trade and Commerce routes with $5.3 trillion in trade traverses annually through this region.
  • India’s more than 90% of trade by volume and 75% by value passes through Indo-Pacific region.
  • Presence of 7 out of 8 fastest growing markets and comprises of world’s 3 largest economies viz. USA, China and Japan.
• Asian Century: 
  • It is said that 21st century is going to be Asian century because of the emergence of new economies like China, India, Japan etc on global stage.
•  Environmental Importance:
  • Presence of world’s largest number of biodiversity hotspots which are essential to preserve the blue planet.
  • Success of the Paris Climate deal depends to the large extent on the steps taken by the three biggest greenhouse gas emitter nations viz. USA, China and India. All of them belong to the IPR.

Way Ahead

• India and Australia are keen to work jointly to realise the full potential of the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. 
• This partnership is based on a shared vision of a free, open, inclusive and rule-based Indo-Pacific region. 
• Both countries should strive to strengthen defence and security cooperation between the 2 countries.

Source: TH