India, Australia strengthen defence ties as China tensions loom

Published June 4, 2020
The virtual summit was held online as the coronavirus pandemic restricts international travel. — AFP
The virtual summit was held online as the coronavirus pandemic restricts international travel. — AFP

India and Australia strengthened defence ties on Thursday, including sealing a pact to boost military logistics support and maritime cooperation, as both nations experience heightened tensions with regional superpower China.

In a virtual summit held online as the coronavirus pandemic restricts international travel, the two leaders signed a Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement as they hailed an upgrade of their strategic partnership.

"India is committed to further intensifying comprehensive relations with Australia," India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in opening remarks.

"This is important not only for our two nations, but is also needed for the Indo-Pacific region as well as for the world."

His Australian counterpart Scott Morrison added that "in a time like this, we want to deal very much with friends and trusted partners".

The foreign and defence ministers will now meet at least biannually to discuss strategic issues, the two nations said in a joint statement.

Other agreements on education, mining, and defence science and technology were also inked during the summit, which took place after two earlier scheduled visits by Morrison to India were postponed because of the Australian bushfires and the pandemic.

Canberra has been at loggerheads with Beijing after Chinese anger over Australia's push to probe the origins of the coronavirus.

Tensions have flared in recent weeks between India and China over their 3,500-kilometre frontier which has never been properly demarcated, with both sides said to have moved in hundreds of extra troops.

A senior Indian foreign ministry official told reporters in a media briefing later on Thursday that "there was no discussion on China" in the summit.

But analysts said Beijing's increasing assertiveness in the region, as well as ongoing US-China tensions, was pushing India and Australia closer together to mitigate some of that risk.

"I didn't expect these two would mention the 'C' word, China, but it was very much at the back of their minds," Asian Studies Adjunct Professor, Purnendra Jain, of the University of Adelaide, told AFP.

"Both the prime ministers are very much aware that these are turbulent times, and to deal with these times, we need to do something together. This is about coronavirus and free trade, but this is also very much about dealing with China."

Opinion

Editorial

Trump 2.0
Updated 07 Nov, 2024

Trump 2.0

It remains to be seen how his promises to bring ‘peace’ to Middle East reconcile with his blatantly pro-Israel bias.
Fait accompli
07 Nov, 2024

Fait accompli

A SLEW of secretively conceived and hastily enacted legislation has achieved its intended result: the powers of the...
IPP contracts
07 Nov, 2024

IPP contracts

THE government expects the ongoing ‘negotiations’ with power producers aimed at revising the terms of sovereign...
Rushed legislation
Updated 06 Nov, 2024

Rushed legislation

For all its stress on "supremacy of parliament", the ruling coalition has wasted no opportunity to reiterate where its allegiances truly lie.
Jail reform policy
06 Nov, 2024

Jail reform policy

THE state is making a fresh attempt to improve conditions in Pakistan’s penitentiaries by developing a national...
BISP overhaul
06 Nov, 2024

BISP overhaul

IT has emerged that the spouses of over 28,500 Sindh government employees have been illicitly benefiting from BISP....