India, Australia to strengthen defence ties to contain China

[thestringshredder]

NEW DELHI: India and Australia will implement a slew of "defence cooperation initiatives" to further strengthen the bilateral "strategic partnership", which range from stepped up military exchanges and regular defence dialogues to maritime security and a joint naval combat exercise in 2015.

This was decided in the extensive talks between defence minister A K Antony with his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith in Perth and Canberra on June 4 and 5. "The two ministers acknowledged the deepening bilateral strategic and defence cooperation. They agreed to continue to contribute to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region and to promote cooperation in the Indian Ocean region (IOR),"said an official.

Though both countries are wary of China's expanding military might and its growing naval forays into the IOR, they are opposed to any multi-lateral strategic construct or axis in the Asia-Pacific which might be seen as a move to "contain" Beijing.

But in the backdrop of China's increasing assertiveness in the contentious South China Sea, where Beijing is locked in escalating maritime territorial disputes with its neighbours, India and Australia emphasised that "maritime security and freedom of navigation in accordance with principles of international law is critical for the growth and prosperity of the Asia Pacific and IOR".

In a joint statement issued after the Antony-Smith talks, the two countries agreed to continue with "regular bilateral defence ministers' meetings" and promote exchanges between the defence establishments and the armed forces of both sides, including through the regular conduct of the Defence Policy Dialogue, Armed Forces Staff Talks and professional military exchanges.

The two also agreed to continue "ongoing bilateral naval exchanges to build confidence and familiarity between the navies", which will include the participation of Indian warships in the International Fleet Review to be held in Sydney in October 2013 as well as the joint maritime exercise in 2015.

"The two nations will also cooperate in the Asia-Pacific region bilaterally and through various multilateral fora, including the East Asia Summit, ASEAN Regional Forum and ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus. They will enhance IOR cooperation, including through the framework and priorities of the IONS (Indian Ocean Naval Symposium) and the IOR-ARC," said the official.

Later on Wednesday, Antony left for Thailand for his last leg of his whirlwind three-nation tour after Singapore and Australia. But even as India strengthens strategic and military ties with countries in Asia-Pacific, it is also keen to "constructively engage" with China despite the recent 21-day military standoff in the Depsang Bulge area of eastern Ladakh, which reinforced concerns here about China's "increasingly assertive behaviour" all along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Antony will be visiting China in the last week of June to discuss de-escalatory mechanisms along the LAC to prevent military face-offs. The visit is an effort to ensure the fledgling bilateral military ties with China are stepped up with joint military exercises, defence exchanges and confidence-building measures along the unresolved LAC.

The joint "Hand-in-Hand" counter-terrorism exercises between the Indian and Chinese armies, for instance, are all set to be resumed later this year after they got derailed with just the first two editions being held at Kunming (China) in 2007 and Belgaum in 2008.

Link - India, Australia to strengthen defence ties to contain China - The Times of India

 

[karan21]

IS THIS A JOKE??? The Australian economy is today dependent on Chinese investment. If no China, no more jobs for Australians. India simply can't replace China in Australia..

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

India run like headless chicken to cozy every nation (Japan, Vietnam..ASEAN) now Australia against China and what is the tangible result? Are China being contained? No au contraire we only expand to India Ocean with Gwadar port and beyond, we will build a new silk road with "Pakistan cooperation" to middle East and central Asia...and of course throught Pakistan's Kashmir India is so desperate these days...try harder .

 

[armchairPrivate]

Back at you

Australia elevates China ties, a strategic

Australia elevates China ties, a strategic ‘breakthrough’
ANANTH KRISHNAN

Australia on Tuesday elevated its ties with China to a “strategic partnership” – a level of engagement the country has with few nations, such as India and Indonesia – with Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Beijing hailing the move as a diplomatic “breakthrough”.

The two countries have agreed to institutionalise regular meetings between their two Premiers to be held annually, and have also started a strategic and economic dialogue between their Foreign Ministers and top economic officials.

China has a similar arrangement with only few countries – including the U.S., Russia and Britain. This reflected “evident commitment to the Australia-China relationship”, said Ms. Gillard during an interaction with a small group of reporters here.

“This is a significant breakthrough”, she added, saying there were “few countries more important to us than China”.

Australian officials went as far as comparing the agreement to the historic establishment of diplomatic ties by Gough Whitlam. The agreement was, however, sparse in specific details about how it would actually deepen engagement.

Chinese officials pointed out that the annual meeting between the Prime Ministers may also be scheduled along the sidelines of multilateral summits – heads of the two countries have, in any case, held such annual meetings in the past few years.

Ms. Gillard’s trip to China has, however, underscored the rapidly deepening economic ties between the two countries.

On Monday, both countries signed a landmark deal to trade directly in their currencies, making the Australian Dollar only the third currency to directly trade in the mainland foreign exchange market after the U.S. Dollar and Japanese Yen, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The deal is set to boost the already substantial $ 120 billion annual bilateral trade between the two countries, which has been driven by Chinese appetite for natural resources. India and Australia, by way of comparison, have an annual trade of around $ 18 billion.

“People in Australia understand how important China is to our future,” Ms. Gillard said, with China now Australia’s single biggest trading partner.

Deals worth at least $ 3 billion were also signed between Ms. Gillard and her counterpart Li Keqiang, including investment agreements for developing mines and wind farms.

A focus of this visit has been to boost strategic ties, which have been seen as lagging behind the substantial commercial relationship. Ms. Gillard has attempted to carefully balance Australia’s deepening economic ties with China with the country’s close strategic and security relationship with the U.S.

Chinese analysts have, recently, written about the relationship with some suspicion, after Australia last year agreed to host 2,500 U.S. marines in Darwin. The move was widely seen by analysts in Beijing as being directed at China.

In an apparent bid to assuage those concerns, Ms. Gillard discussed defence ties in some detail. She announced in Beijing that Australia would consider having trilateral defence exercises with China and the U.S. to boost trust.

The proposal was not, however, brought up during her interactions with President Xi Jinping and other leaders, officials said.

 

[acid rain]

IS THIS A JOKE??? The Australian economy is today dependent on Chinese investment. If no China, no more jobs for Australians. India simply can't replace China in Australia..

A 120 billion chini Aus trade in a 1.4 trillion economy and a 40 billion chinese investment in Australia till date, the aussies will keep milking the chinese for what its worth...meanwhile australia is also a major part of the US Asia pivot.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

A 120 billion chini Aus trade in a 1.4 trillion economy and a 40 billion chinese investment in Australia till date, the aussies will keep milking the chinese for what its worth...meanwhile australia is also a major part of the US Asia pivot.

Consider that we just like to be miked by Aussies as long as we can milk India to balance our accounting book

 

[armchairPrivate]

When the Chinese PMI dipped, the Ozzies went to the gutters.

The Chinese have them by their balls right now.

 

[IndoUS]

India should try to get more access to the mineral wealth in Australia.

 

[President]

When the Chinese PMI dipped, the Ozzies went to the gutters.

The Chinese have them by their balls right now.

Exactly like US have Canadians by their balls!

 

[帅的一匹]

Get bored with these containing China thread, anything else pragmatic?

 

[ChinaToday]

A 120 billion chini Aus trade in a 1.4 trillion economy and a 40 billion chinese investment in Australia till date, the aussies will keep milking the chinese for what its worth...meanwhile australia is also a major part of the US Asia pivot.

Such a no brainer post , ever heard of customers always right?

 

[帅的一匹]

If you guys loves containing China so much , please moderator set up a sticky thread in Indian section named' how to contain China?'

 

[jhungary]

The majority of Aus-China investment is in the mining sector. Other than that, it would be a sole import from China.

Anyone can replace China in Australia as long as they have enough money and big enough market. I don't ever see why India could not.

Problem with Australia is, we don't care about Indian and Chinese, we only care about Money. In term of Defence, I don't see how Australia would align with India or China in this sense. Australia will always be US allies, India is always going to be Russian Allies and the two cannot mix together. While China-AUS defence ties cannot be forge because, well, the obvious

 

[ChinaToday]

Australia PM visited china 3 times atleast in the last two years alone, how many time did she went to india

 

[armchairPrivate]

^^^^^
^^^

Minerals are all the ozzies got nowadays.

Money talks. Bullshit walks.

Ozzies will always be US alley is bullshit.