India – Australia have initiated their cooperation with each other as The Indian Navy (IN) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) have planned their naval exercise as IN-RAN, in 2015. The economic interpretation and security alliances are seen as growing interests in the strategic maritime partnership between India-Australia.
India-Australia Relations
After the cold war era, India decides to have a non-aligned stand and Australia decides to align with the US. During the period the major countries like the US, Russia, China, France and the UK executed the belongings of nuclear weapons development and some of the countries signed to not acquire the nuclear weapons, one of them was Australia signed to prevent the possession of nuclear weapons.
when India decides to improve its nuclear weapons and declines to sign the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty in order to secure its country because it felt like threatening sharing its border with the countries China who owns nuclear weapons.
So, this tension of owning nuclear power involved some ups and downs between India-Australia partnership. Australia seems to have extended the strategic economic interest in the border of Asia where Australia focuses on the arc extending from India through Southeast Asia to Northeast Asia.
Maritime cooperation
In 2000, the IN-RAN cooperation started its participation where RAN engaged in MALABAR 07 with India, USA, Japan and Singapore navies and also, they had been involved in MILAN at Port Blair since 2003 conjoined.
This multilateral forum aimed to increase the ties between India-Australia and also developed maritime security. The security cooperation of India-Australia approved to have a regular bilateral exercise, the maritime security encouraged them to include non-proliferation and disarmament.
The Indian economic strategy of USA-India development increased the cooperation between India and Australia. By maintaining peace and security India plays an important role in the regions of maritime especially in the Indian Ocean Region and also in the border of Indo-Pacific region. This encouraged Australia to empower the Indo-Pacific region of India.
Strengthened Partnership 2024
Recently in March, Australia’s Vice admiral Mark Hammond, chief of the Royal Australian Navy visited India and met with India’s Vice admiral R Hari Kumar, chief of the Indian Navy to increase the growing significance of naval cooperation that includes strengthening the maritime partnership. Remarkably, AUSINDEX, a naval exercise, happened to develop their interoperability and coordination between the Royal Australian Navy and the Indian Navy.
Additionally, current incidents of their cooperation of mutual interest, including the maritime security environment in the Indo-Pacific region, maritime domain awareness, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) coordination, regional and multilateral engagements are sustainable.
Stable Navigation
India and Australia believe to navigate with the principles of international law for the critical growth and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean Region. The evolution of the South China Sea conflict undermined the risk of the whole region, with China being the largest economic partner for Australia.
Both the countries shared their cooperation in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), and also, major operations like Search and Rescue (SAR) utilized the maritime engagement between Indian Coast Guard and the Australian Border Force.
The Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) is an Indian-led framework launched in 2019 aimed at enhancing maritime cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region. It focuses on seven key pillars: maritime security, maritime ecology, maritime resources, capacity building and resource sharing, disaster risk reduction, science and technology, and trade, connectivity, and maritime transport.
The IPOI seeks to promote a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through collaborative efforts among countries and stakeholders to address challenges like maritime security, environmental sustainability, and economic growth.
