With eye on China, Australia to rejoin Malabar naval exercise

[tacobell fan]

Australia will rejoin the Malabar series of the joint naval exercises scheduled for next month, according to an official announcement here on Monday.

The significance of Australia joining the Indo-US-Japan exercise, held every year, could be gauged from statements welcoming the development by the US Navy and the Australian foreign and defence ministers.

With the missing element of Australia getting added, Malabar gets converted into a naval force of strength by the four-member Quad grouping of the US, Japan, Australia and India aimed at countering China in the Indo-Pacific. The exercise will take place in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea this year.

However, the official news release did not say whether Australia will join as an observer or a permanent member. In case of the former, it would be a one-off affair while the latter means that Quad has formalised into a military group.

“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,’’ said the official news release.

Australian Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said the Malabar drills were a milestone opportunity for the Australian Defence Force.

The Malabar series of naval exercises started in 1992 as a bilateral India-US exercise. But its China-oriented focus evolved in the mid-2000 as countries under America’s military umbrella would join as observers. Australia became a part of Malabar for a year over a decade back and then pulled out. But Japan joined in 2015 and Australia’s re-entry was on the cards after Chinese aggression increased on the LAC as well as in the maritime domain.

The location of the annual Malabar exercise has also become a point of strategic interest. For instance, it was conducted off the coast of Guam in the Philippine Sea in 2018 and off the coast the Japan in 2019.

Australia’s participation in the exercise comes after the foreign minister-level Quad meeting in Tokyo earlier this month.

[Pitta]