Australia to be part of Malabar naval drill with India

India on Monday announced Australia’s participation in the upcoming edition of the Malabar series of naval exercises involving India, USA and Japan, marking the first ever military engagement of the Quad – a four-nation informal grouping formed to counter China’s expansionist agenda.

The decision, officials said, conveyed a strong message to the communist country with which India was having border stand-off since March in eastern Ladakh.

"As India seeks to increase cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain and in the light of increased defence cooperation with Australia, Malabar 2020 will see the participation of the Australian Navy," the defence ministry said in a statement.

It also said the participants of the exercise collectively support a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. The drill is to be held in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, which also is a marked change from the past editions of the exercises that were limited to only one side of the Indian peninsula.

The announcement comes two weeks after foreign ministers from the Quad nations met in Tokyo. It was the second ministerial meeting of the coalition that happened in the backdrop of China stepping up its belligerence – not only along its disputed boundary with India, but elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region too.

Even though the concept of a four-nation alliance to take on China was talked about for a long time, the Quad was officially re-launched in November 2017 to counter hegemonic aspirations of the communist nation in the Indo-Pacific region.

From the very beginning China was dead against such a grouping and its involvement in any military activity in the Indian Ocean region. In the past, Beijing once sent a strong diplomatic message to New Delhi when a similar multilateral naval exercise was held in the Bay of Bengal more than a decade ago.

The Malabar series of naval exercises between India and USA began way back in 1992. Japan became a part of it in 2015 and Australia was trying for a berth in the four-nation war game in the Indian Ocean for many years.

In her reaction, Australian Defence Minister Linda Reynolds described her country’s participation in the exercise as a "milestone opportunity" and said it would showcase the "deep trust" between four major Indo-Pacific democracies and their shared will to work together on common security interests.

“The participants of Malabar exercise 2020 are engaging to enhance safety and security in the maritime domain. They collectively support free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remain committed to a rules based international order,” the defence ministry said.

This annual exercise has been conducted off the coast of Guam in the Philippine Sea in 2018 and off the coast of Japan in 2019.