Why did India rebuff Australia’s war games offer (if not to placate China)?
Beijing has welcomed the move regarding the Malabar drills, saying New Delhi is ‘clear about the consideration behind this behaviour’
India has rebuffed Australia’s effort to join the trilateral Malabar drills in the Indian Ocean, held with the United States and Japan, two nations Australia shares close ties with.
At a time when Indian-Australian cooperation is growing this has been seen as a slight, and a way to placate China, though some experts suggest otherwise.
Dr David Brewster, who recently wrote a paper on Australia-India ties and is with the National Security College at the Australian National University in Canberra, told This Week in Asia: “India’s position on Malabar is not so much to placate China, but it is driven by a view that it is best to take the relationship with Australia one step at a time.”
There will be the AUSINDEX naval drills this month off the coast of Perth and the “new cooperative relationships [are] quietly being built between the armies and air forces,” he said.
However, he said, the Indian foreign ministry did not wish China to get the impression it was building an anti-China coalition.
The move by India was welcomed by China, whose Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: “I think India is also clear about the consideration behind this behaviour.”