The Australia-India Framework for Security Cooperation: Another Step Towards an Indo-Pacific Security Partnership (original) (raw)

The India-Australia Security Engagement: Opportunities and Challenges (Mumbai: Gateway House, 2013)

In coming years, the India-Australia relationship may well become one of the most significant security relationships in the Indian Ocean region. The countries are the two leading maritime powers of Indian Ocean states and there are expectations from inside and outside the region that they will take increasing responsibility for the security of the region. This paper considers how the two countries may work together as potential partners. India and Australia share a language, a colonial past, many civil and political institutions, and democratic values. But despite these commonalities, they have long operated in largely separate strategic spheres. A non-aligned India was largely preoccupied with its immediate security problems in South Asia, while Australia traditionally focused on security concerns in East Asia and the Pacific. These spheres of strategic interest are converging. The two countries now share many concerns, including over the growing impact of China on the strategic environment. The rise of India as a major regional power means that it is assuming greater security responsibilities in the Indian Ocean region and is starting to be seen a significant strategic player in the Pacific. India is also beginning to see Australia as one of several new security partners in the Asia-Pacific region. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges in the growing security relationship between India and Australia. It will discuss the evolution of their strategic roles, particularly in the Indian Ocean, and the changes in the relationship, before considering several concrete areas of security cooperation.

The India-Australia Security and Defence Relationship: Developments, Constraints and Prospects

In coming years, India is likely to become one of Australia’s most important partners in the region. This article explores how the security and defence relationship has developed in recent times. It discusses challenges in the relationship before exploring potential areas for enhanced security and defence cooperation. But if Australia wishes to be successful in its objectives of promoting greater cooperation with India, it will need to move in a consistent and sustained manner with a time horizon considerably longer than it is generally used to. In some cases, Australia may also need to move past any immediate expectations of the reciprocity that would be expected in developing security partnerships with most countries.

Australia and India in the Modi era: An unequal strategic partnership, International Politics (2021)

International Politics, 2021

Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia in November 2014 was the first for an Indian Prime Minister in almost three decades and promised much. Modi declared that Australia was no longer on the ‘periphery’ of New Delhi’s ‘vision’, ‘but at the centre of our thoughts’. He pledged to work with Canberra at the G20 and regional multilateral forums, deepen the bilateral security partnership, and conclude a free trade deal. These promises were only partly realised. Progress was made in defence and security cooperation, within and outside the Quad, but a free trade deal proved too hard. Canberra struggled to maintain momentum in improving ties because of leadership challenges in Australian government and New Delhi’s preference for protectionism. This article examines these dynamics, looking back at the drivers of the strategic partnership, as well as at the challenges encountered in the Modi era.

The challenges of building an Australia-India-US partnership in the Indo-Pacific

While there have been many positive developments in the Australia-India and US-India strategic relationships, they are still operating as separate bilateral relationships. The next step is to operationalise these relationships and bring them together into a trilateral security partnership with a primary focus on maritime security in the Indian Ocean. This will require both Australia and the United States to act outside their normal comfort zones in working with friends and allies.

Australia - India Relations and the Asia Pacific: A Strategic Shift or A Long Term Policy Goal

Australia - India Relations and the Asia Pacific: A Strategic Shift or A Long term Policy Goal ABSTRACT When one considers the present state of India –Australia diplomatic relations,it strikes any observer that India has been rather treated with benign neglect within Australia's foreign policy framework in cultivating its robust relations with the outer world.This is rather strange when the world’s much talked about centre of gravity comprising of political, military, economic influence, is now rapidly moving onto the Asia-Pacific,following the rise of China and the rise of India,which now are slowly becoming the defining element in this shift . Besides the assertive role of the United States, and the combined economic strength of the stronger ASEAN economies, in addition to that of Japan, Korea and Indonesia, the region is likely to acquire more strategic importance. With Beijing’s focus on increasing its military expenditure,its engagement in a series of naval skirmishes, with Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines ,this year over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, the worried neighbours, including Australia, wary of China’s expanding role now are left with no other option but to seek India as a balancer to hedge the security threats arising out of China’s actions ,though not as a counterweight. Hence India is being called upon to play a greater role in the security of Asia Pacific. This feeling was echoed by US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton,who during her recent visit to India,in July 2011,called for India to positively shape Asia's future,as India's robust economic growth, its size and its revered status as the world's largest democracy,has contributed towards increasing its global influence in todays world. Australia’s last Rudd Labour government,which had abandoned the quadrilateral dialogue with India, Japan and the US in 2008,which was perceived to be in consonance with its proChina policy ,is now poised for a closer shift towards a closer relationship with India as Australia is forced to realize now that it may be in its interests to kowtow to India for using India’s increased strategic clout in ensuring the security and stability of the region. The security scenario becomes much more curiouser when the West is engaged with India to use its influence with India to act strongly as a hedge against China's rapid military build-up, India decidedly has adopted the role that of a reluctant superpower, hesitant about complicating its own ties with its powerful Asian neighbour. In the aforesaid background,in my proposed paper,I seek to analyse the existing security scenario in the Asia pacific region and also examine the various moves that are being made by Australia and the West to enhance their engagement with India and the countries of the Indian Ocean rim in the arena of politics,economy and trade relations as merely a strategy or a long term measure and finally will map out the consequences for the asia pacific region and international politics as a whole.

Developments in India-Australia relations: the odd couple of the Indo-Pacific

India and Australia have the potential to become important strategic partners in Asia as part of a coalition that could help manage the changing balance of power in the region. But while India and Australia share many strategic interests, both countries still have a lot to learn about how to get along with each other. Some might even see them as the odd couple of the Indo-Pacific. This paper looks at recent developments in the relationship in the areas of security, politics and economics, and the prospects for a closer partnership under the new Modi government.

Australia and India: from Estrangement to Convergence

Australia and India | From Estrangement to Convergence, 2023

In a time of heightened geopolitical competition, Australia has emerged as a major partner for India. While this does not necessarily indicate alignment in a traditional sense, it reflects a shift in India’s security posture in the face of an increasingly assertive China. This paper analyzes the drivers, frameworks, and impacts of the bilateral relationship between Australia and India. It initially traces the relationship until the early 2000s and examines the factors shaping the relative strategic estrangement between both countries up until that point. The paper then moves to elaborating the drivers of strategic convergence before discussing the four major pillars of bilateral collaboration: (1) institutional engagement and diplomatic frameworks, (2) economic ties, (3) maritime security cooperation, and (4) wider security and defense cooperation. The last section concludes the paper and reflects on the progress made so far and the challenges to be addressed in the coming years.

A Missed Opportunity but not an Opportunity Lost: Forging a Meaningful Security Partnership with India in the Indo-Pacific

CHACR, 2024

The 16th BRICS Summit, held in late October 2024, marked the conclusion of a four-year period of heightened tensions between India and China. Triggered by the Galwan Valley crisis in 2020, this period was characterized by mutual military build-ups, aggressive posturing, heated political discourse, and an escalation of nationalist rhetoric. Given the heightened threat of conflict between these two nuclear-armed powers, the warm handshakes and conciliatory gestures exchanged between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit were rightly celebrated by the international community for helping restore stability to the region. Though the Galwan Crisis resulted in a regrettable escalation of tensions along the contested border, it also opened a critical window of opportunity for Western governments. Confronted with its vulnerabilities in the face of an emboldened China, India became increasingly proactive in seeking external support to counterbalance Beijing's growing assertiveness. This created a unique chance for the US, UK, and their allies to not only strengthen defence partnerships with New Delhi but also align their strategic interests in countering China's influence across the Indo-Pacific. Seen from this perspective, the Galwan moment was marked by both substantial achievements and squandered potential. While significant strides were made in areas like joint initiatives and technology sharing, missteps in diplomatic messaging and an overemphasis on shared democratic values undermined the momentum. Though the West may have missed the full opportunity presented by the Galwan moment, however, this does not mean future chances to strengthen ties with India are lost. While the current thaw in Sino-Indian dynamics offers a sunny short-term forecast for their bilateral relationship, structural tensions - rooted in territorial disputes, competing ambitions, and regional dynamics - ensure that the two Asian powers remain locked in a long-term geopolitical struggle. Over the next decade, these tensions are only likely to intensify, creating fresh opportunities for defence collaboration and regional influence. This is therefore a pivotal moment for western governments to forge strong relationships with India based on shared security concerns in the Indo-Pacific. Seen from this perspective, the closing of the Galwan window is not a lost cause so much as it is a reminder to learn from these successes and failures. By building on this understanding and prioritizing pragmatic engagement, Western powers can position themselves to act decisively when the geopolitical pendulum inevitably swings back in their favour.

The Australia – India Security Declaration: the Quadrilateral redux?

The Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation between Australia and India, made during Kevin Rudd’s visit to New Delhi in November 2009, is part of a developing web of security agreements being spun across the Asia Pacific. For Australia the Declaration is a notable step in the process of developing a closer security relationship with India. However, some grant it wider significance, seeing it as plugging a “missing link” in a web of bilateral security agreements connecting Australia, India, the United States and Japan - the four members of the so-called Quadrilateral security dialogue that was proposed and then quickly abandoned in 2007. With the Australia-India Declaration all four members of the putative “Quad” now have bilateral security arrangements with each other, facilitating the further development of their relationships. Should, as some argue, the Declaration and other bilateral security arrangements be seen as heralding a coalition among Asia-Pacific maritime powers implicitly aimed at containing China?