{"id":57667,"date":"2020-07-21T11:20:47","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T01:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=57667"},"modified":"2022-06-24T16:58:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T06:58:13","slug":"australia-needs-to-take-india-more-seriously-as-strategic-environment-worsens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-needs-to-take-india-more-seriously-as-strategic-environment-worsens\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia needs to take India more seriously as strategic environment worsens"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The defence outlook of major countries is fast changing amid the Covid-19 crisis and China\u2019s increasingly coercive military posturing in the Indo-Pacific. Japan\u2019s changing perspective on a first-strike capability<\/a>, Australia\u2019s 2020 defence strategic update<\/a>, and India\u2019s crafting of a comprehensive strategic partnership<\/a> with Australia while purchasing<\/a> the S-400 Triumf anti-missile system from Russia during the Galwan border clash with China are key indicators of how the Indo-Pacific powers are continuously changing their defence outlook. What scope do these developments create for the Australia\u2013India defence partnership and where does India fit in Australia\u2019s new defence strategy?<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s strategic update and accompanying force structure plan<\/a> revisit the defence outlook and reassess the challenges Australia could face in its region in the near term and long term. The update\u2019s focus on the Indo-Pacific is a response to China\u2019s behaviour in the region\u2014from the South and East China Seas to the Pacific Ocean and the Taiwan front. With Canberra\u2019s changing posture, India could emerge as a stronger defence partner than before.<\/p>\n

The aim to advance \u2018military interoperability through defence exercises\u2019 under India\u2019s new mutual logistics support agreement<\/a> with Australia is a step in that direction. This arrangement gains strength from the two countries\u2019 ongoing military modernisation, increasing the scope for defence and strategic cooperation. India is one of the leading importers of military equipment, but that hasn\u2019t restricted it from planning to become self-reliant in arms and weapons manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s \u2018Atmanirbhar Bharat<\/a>\u2019 (\u2018Self-reliant India\u2019) strategy and \u2018Make in India<\/a>\u2019 initiatives aim to make India self-sufficient in a number of sectors, including national security and defence. Those programs could see Australia emerge as a stronger partner in India\u2019s arms procurement and defence modernisation process. The\u00a0Indian defence procurement policy<\/a>\u00a0of 2016 encouraged joint development with original international equipment managers; the policy\u2019s 2020 iteration follows similar lines while advocating for \u2018Make in India\u2019.<\/p>\n

Closer collaborative ventures with Australian defence firms could boost India\u2013Australia defence cooperation, especially in aerospace manufacturing, disaster relief, maritime security, shipbuilding, military infrastructure building and disruptive technology. Australia, too, is a net importer of defence equipment and plans to invest\u00a0more than $200 billion<\/a> over the next 10 years\u00a0in building defence capability, which it hopes will support export opportunities for indigenous cutting-edge technologies and equipment.<\/p>\n

India should also tap into Australia\u2019s competitive defence technology and cybersecurity training sectors. The cooperation arrangements<\/a> signed as part of the Australia\u2013India comprehensive partnership include one on defence science and technology and another on cyber and cyber-enabled critical technology. In its 2020 strategic update, Australia has accorded immense importance to defence technology and cybersecurity due to the ever-expanding \u2018threshold of traditional armed conflict<\/a> in what experts call the grey zone\u2019. The Australian government recently announced<\/a> a $1.35 billion investment in enhancing cybersecurity capabilities.<\/p>\n

While Australia\u2019s defence export strategy<\/a> of 2018 did not identify India<\/a> as a close ally for export of its \u2018sensitive technologies\u2019, including India now as a major partner must become a necessity. Canberra\u2019s strategic update should encourage Australia and India to cooperate in strategic thinking, meet grey-zone challenges, enhance their conventional capabilities and engage in stronger military-centric regional cooperation.<\/p>\n

Australia and India had each long managed their relationship with China under an effective appeasement policy, but those strategies are undergoing serious revision.<\/p>\n

Both countries have expressed concerns over\u00a0China\u2019s aggressive posturing in the South China Sea.\u00a0An estimated two-thirds<\/a> of Australian exports and more than half of Indian trade<\/a>\u00a0pass through the South China Sea,\u00a0making it vital to their commercial interests. India and Australia<\/a>\u00a0share a vision of a \u2018free, open, inclusive and rules based Indo-Pacific region\u2019 in which freedom of navigation and overflight, and peaceful and cooperative use of the seas, are upheld.<\/p>\n

Cooperation on the South China Sea could be more thorough, however. Australia\u2019s inclusion in the Malabar naval exercise with India, Japan and the US is vital in this regard.\u00a0Australia\u2019s participation in the exercise is emerging as an almost foregone conclusion, though no formal announcement has yet been made.<\/p>\n

The partnership between Australia and India is no longer one-dimensional, and to be truly comprehensive it needs to have many layers. The Indian market might appear to be complex, but it is also \u2018very fast moving<\/a>\u2019, as Australia\u2019s trade minister Simon Birmingham said recently. India is the fifth-largest export market for Australia and is ranked as its eighth-largest trading partner, yet two-way trade is still unimpressive at $30.3 billion in 2018\u201319.<\/p>\n

Stronger defence cooperation could emerge out of stronger economic ties. The time has come for Australia to factor India much more seriously into its defence planning and to foster a stronger, market-oriented defence partnership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The defence outlook of major countries is fast changing amid the Covid-19 crisis and China\u2019s increasingly coercive military posturing in the Indo-Pacific. Japan\u2019s changing perspective on a first-strike capability, Australia\u2019s 2020 defence strategic update, and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1177,"featured_media":57670,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3309,2795,69,56],"class_list":["post-57667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia-india-relations","tag-defence-strategic-update","tag-india","tag-indo-pacific","dinkus-strategic-update-2020"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralia needs to take India more seriously as strategic environment worsens | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-needs-to-take-india-more-seriously-as-strategic-environment-worsens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia needs to take India more seriously as strategic environment worsens | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The defence outlook of major countries is fast changing amid the Covid-19 crisis and China\u2019s increasingly coercive military posturing in the Indo-Pacific. 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