Diplomatist Magazine Diplomatist March 2019 | Page 11

India-Australia
Defence Cooperation
By Dr. Pragya Pandey*
I
ndia and Australia have a strong defence
relationship, built on a long history of
cooperation – including the shared experience
in the trenches of World War I in Gallipoli and
along the Western Front. Historically India and
Australia have shared a number of features
like similar legal and governance structures
and a commitment to liberal democratic values
and the littoral status of the Indian Ocean to
naturally develop mutually benefi cial long-term
partnerships. However, the compulsions of
the Cold War politics made it diffi cult for the
partnership to substantially materialise. With the
end of the Cold War, the two countries started
to look at bilateral relations through a new
prism which resulted in bringing a sea-change
in their relationship. New Delhi’s ‘Look East
Policy’ of 1991 and market reforms of the early
1990s created considerable interest in Canberra.
Alongside, Australia’s change of attitude towards
Asia in general and India in particular and
especially its ‘look west’ policy 1995, played a
crucial role in creating an enabling environment
for bilateral relations to make strides.
India and Australia have converging security
interests particularly in seeking security and
stability in the larger Indo-Pacifi c region. One of
the early interactions between the defence forces
of the two countries was during the fi rst Joint
air defence training exercise called ‘Exercise
Sikhsha’ in November 1963 along with the
British and the American air forces. Later during
Australia’s bicentenary celebrations in 1988,
INS Godavari was as one of the ships from 15
countries to participate in Sydney International
Naval Review.
The defence relationship between the two
countries has steadily developed under the solid
foundation laid down by the 2006 Memorandum
on Defence Cooperation, signed during the then
Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s visit
to India. Later a pact on Defence Information
Sharing Arrangement was signed in July 2007to
increase military exchange, share intelligence
data related to terrorism and maritime security.
During the visit of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to
India, in November 2009, a Joint Declaration on
Security Cooperation was signed. Among other
things the declaration emphasised on a common
commitment to “combat terrorism, disaster
management, maritime and aviation security,
information sharing on long-term regional and
global strategic issues”. 1 Keeping in line, the
2009 and 2013 Defence White Papers of Australia
emphasised on strong shared interests and key
security partnership with India. A major advance
in the relationship at this stage was Defence
Minister A. K. Antony’s visit to Australia in 2013
which was the fi rst-ever offi cial visit by an Indian
Defence Minister to Australia.
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 7 • Issue 3 • March 2019, Noida • 11