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Call for Indo-US security pact with Canberra.
by: Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor
From: The Australian
November 04, 2011 12:00AM
AUSTRALIA,India and the US should form a trilateral security dialogue, partly to counter the challenge of China's rising naval power.
A new report by three key think tanks also suggests Canberra and Washington should work actively to get India into the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum.
The paper - Shared Goals, Converging Interests: A Plan for US-Australia-India Co-operation in the Indo-Pacific - was jointly written by senior scholars from the Lowy Institute, India's Observer Research Foundation and the Heritage Foundation in the US.
The paper argues that the three nations should embrace greater defence co-operation, and that while this might start modestly, it should expand into serious operational areas.
"As confidence and trust build among the three nations, they should explore closer strategic and operational collaboration, beginning with transnational security issues and potentially moving into more high-end areas," the paper says.
Free trial
"In time, these might include surveillance, maritime expeditionary operations, anti-submarine warfare and perhaps even integration of theatre missile defence."
The paper calls for enhanced counter-terrorism co-operation among Delhi, Washington and Canberra, and says the danger of nuclear and radiological terrorism has increased sharply in the past decade.
Amitabh Mattoo, the director of the Australia India Institute at Melbourne University, welcomed the proposed trilateral security dialogue.
"I think it's an idea whose time has come," Professor Mattoo told The Australian. "It's not a dialogue which is confronting anyone, it's a dialogue about maintaining Asian security."
The Gillard government's initial response to the proposed three-way dialogue is positive.
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said: "The idea of trilateral co-operation between India, the US and Australia is a thoughtful one that deserves further study. We are logical partners, and it is in all three countries' interests to continue to expand consultation and co-operation."
The paper notes that until now India has not viewed Australia as a priority security partner, despite some improvements in defence co-operation and a joint declaration in 2009 on security co-operation.
The paper says: "The declaration is less substantial than its Australia-Japan counterpart, and progress in fleshing it out and implementing it remains uneven.
"The tempo of bilateral military exercises has been slow, and India does not yet treat Australia as a priority security partner. Apparently a major reason for this is continued Indian disappointment with Canberra's failure to change its policy banning uranium sales to India for civil purposes."
The paper urges Australia to lift its ban on selling uranium to India, an issue likely to be considered at the ALP's national conference next month.
The paper emphasises the need to engage the Indian navy, the fifth largest in the world, and says the Australian and Indian navies "will likely find themselves monitoring contiguous maritime zones".
The paper identifies with concern a pattern of Chinese harassment, especially in the South China Sea.
"Since 2009, there have been a series of maritime incidents in which Chinese naval or paramilitary vessels and aircraft have challenged or harassed American, Japanese, Vietnamese and Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, East China Sea and Yellow Sea far seaward of China's 12-nautical-mile territorial limits," the paper says.
It records a Chinese challenge to an Indian ship off the coast of Vietnam, and notes: "The dynamic of Sino-Indian competition at sea is likely to intensify as Chinese interests expand westward and India's expand eastward."
Cookies must be enabled | The Australian
by: Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor
From: The Australian
November 04, 2011 12:00AM
AUSTRALIA,India and the US should form a trilateral security dialogue, partly to counter the challenge of China's rising naval power.
A new report by three key think tanks also suggests Canberra and Washington should work actively to get India into the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum.
The paper - Shared Goals, Converging Interests: A Plan for US-Australia-India Co-operation in the Indo-Pacific - was jointly written by senior scholars from the Lowy Institute, India's Observer Research Foundation and the Heritage Foundation in the US.
The paper argues that the three nations should embrace greater defence co-operation, and that while this might start modestly, it should expand into serious operational areas.
"As confidence and trust build among the three nations, they should explore closer strategic and operational collaboration, beginning with transnational security issues and potentially moving into more high-end areas," the paper says.
Free trial
"In time, these might include surveillance, maritime expeditionary operations, anti-submarine warfare and perhaps even integration of theatre missile defence."
The paper calls for enhanced counter-terrorism co-operation among Delhi, Washington and Canberra, and says the danger of nuclear and radiological terrorism has increased sharply in the past decade.
Amitabh Mattoo, the director of the Australia India Institute at Melbourne University, welcomed the proposed trilateral security dialogue.
"I think it's an idea whose time has come," Professor Mattoo told The Australian. "It's not a dialogue which is confronting anyone, it's a dialogue about maintaining Asian security."
The Gillard government's initial response to the proposed three-way dialogue is positive.
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said: "The idea of trilateral co-operation between India, the US and Australia is a thoughtful one that deserves further study. We are logical partners, and it is in all three countries' interests to continue to expand consultation and co-operation."
The paper notes that until now India has not viewed Australia as a priority security partner, despite some improvements in defence co-operation and a joint declaration in 2009 on security co-operation.
The paper says: "The declaration is less substantial than its Australia-Japan counterpart, and progress in fleshing it out and implementing it remains uneven.
"The tempo of bilateral military exercises has been slow, and India does not yet treat Australia as a priority security partner. Apparently a major reason for this is continued Indian disappointment with Canberra's failure to change its policy banning uranium sales to India for civil purposes."
The paper urges Australia to lift its ban on selling uranium to India, an issue likely to be considered at the ALP's national conference next month.
The paper emphasises the need to engage the Indian navy, the fifth largest in the world, and says the Australian and Indian navies "will likely find themselves monitoring contiguous maritime zones".
The paper identifies with concern a pattern of Chinese harassment, especially in the South China Sea.
"Since 2009, there have been a series of maritime incidents in which Chinese naval or paramilitary vessels and aircraft have challenged or harassed American, Japanese, Vietnamese and Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, East China Sea and Yellow Sea far seaward of China's 12-nautical-mile territorial limits," the paper says.
It records a Chinese challenge to an Indian ship off the coast of Vietnam, and notes: "The dynamic of Sino-Indian competition at sea is likely to intensify as Chinese interests expand westward and India's expand eastward."
Cookies must be enabled | The Australian
