COLONEL AWADHESH KUMAR, VETERAN SPECIAL FORCES
Australia has been having at best a lukewarm bilateral relations with India all these years in spite of shared democratic values and Cricket and hockey . Earlier Australians always looked “ home “ to Great Britain for everything. With vanishing of the Great part of Britain , Aussie started courting Uncle Sam. Since last decade plus they have been in awe of China . All these years they have treating India as a poor friend .Now it seems things are changing and Australians have started realising that their shores are also washed by a Ocean that for very good reasons is called the Indian Ocean.
Now the Australians are and must ensure convergence of their strategic perspectives with India. Last month US, Japan and Australia all three had held talks with India to discuss cooperation including security relationships in the Indo Pacific region. This is an area where China has been progressively building up and flexing it’s military muscle. This quadrilateral meet was on the side lines of the INDO- ASEAN meet and it discussed issues of common interest in the Indo-Pacific region with a focus on cooperation based on converging vision and values for promotion of peace, stability and prosperity in the area.
After the Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “they agreed that a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region serves the long-term interests of all countries in the region and of the world at large. The officials also exchanged views on addressing common challenges of terrorism and proliferation linkages impacting the region as well as on enhancing connectivity.”
A month after the above quadrilateral meet , now once again both Australia and India have had this bilateral meet . During the talks between the two sides , they reviewed all aspects of bilateral ties with a focus on strategic and defence relations .Both sides also agreed that a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific is in the long- term interests of all countries in the region.
The Indian side was led by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra while the Australian side was headed by Secretary of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Frances Adamson, and Secretary of Department of Defence Greg Moriarty. Apart from attending the dialogue, Moriarty also met the Chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee Admiral Sunil Lanba , who is also the Naval Chief. He also visited Rajputana Rifles Regimental Centre in New Delhi. Both countries have also conducted some joint Special Forces Training in Australia recently and this is likely to be followed by training in India.
