In a major development, Australia will be part of the annual Malabar exercises that will take place in Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea in November.
Defence Ministry in a release said,”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”
Malabar exercises will now have all 4 quad countries as part of the exercises – US, India, Japan and Australia. The announcement comes weeks after Quad country foreign ministers met in person in Tokyo.
The exercise will be ‘non-contact – at sea’ format and will “strengthen the coordination between the Navies of the participating countries”, the Indian defence ministry release said.
In fact, Malabar exercises started in 1992 as a bilateral Indian Navy-US Navy exercise and Japan joined the exercises in 2015. In 2018, the exercise took place off the coast of Guam in the Philippine Sea, in 2019 off the coast the Japan.
The Indian Defence Ministry explained, “Participants of Exercise Malabar 2020 are engaging to enhance safety and security in the maritime domain.”
Adding,”They collectively support free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remain committed to a rules based international order.”
The development will raise eyebrows in Beijing that sees coming together of Quad countries suspiciously.
Source: Thanks WIONews.com