Exercise Malabar 2020: Australia accepts India's invitation amid tensions with China

Australia has accepted India's invitation to participate in the trilateral naval exercise Malabar 2020, involving the United States and Japan. This is the first time since 2007 that Australia will take part in the Malabar exercise and will again make the grouping of four complete. Australian defence minister Linda Reynolds said that the "high-end military exercises like Malabar are key to enhancing the country's maritime capabilities and in demonstrating collective resolve to support an open and prosperous Indo-Pacific." 

Read: India Invites Australia For Malabar Exercise With US And Japan Later This Year

“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. This year, the exercise has been planned on a ‘non-contact - at sea’ format. The exercise will strengthen the coordination between the Navies of the participating countries. They collectively support free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remain committed to a rules-based international order,” India's defence ministry said in a statement on Monday.

India and Australia had also carried out a two-day maritime exercise in the Indian ocean in September this year, where vessels of both countries participated and conducted complex operations. The exercise came amid the military stand-off between India and China in Ladakh. Relations between Canberra and Beijing have also soured in the recent past despite China being Australia's largest trading partner. The military drills in the Indian ocean were aimed at sending a strong message to the Communist State, which has often tried to intimidate countries with its aggressive behaviour. 

Read: Quad Meeting 2020: Jaishankar Says India Committed To A Rules-based World Order

Malabar exercise

The Malabar series of exercises had initially begun as a bilateral exercise between Indian and the United States Navies, but Japan became a permanent member in 2015 making it a trilateral grouping. Only Australia and Singapore have participated in the exercise as non-permanent members ever since its inception in 1992. The exercise is meant to strengthen military coordination between the participating nations so that they could keep the Indo-Pacific free and open for all. This year the Malabar exercise is expected to be held in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea later this year, said India's defence ministry in a statement on October 19. 

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Australia accepting the invitation from India comes after the recently concluded QUAD meeting in Tokyo, Japan, where all four members participated. The Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) was set up in 2007 but had died down due to the withdrawal of Australia. However, in 2017 it was reestablished again following negotiations between the US, India, Japan, and Australia. The grouping is counter to China's growing military ambitions in the Indo-pacific region.

Read: QUAD 2020: Pompeo Meets EAM Jaishankar; Says 'advancing US-India Relations' Together