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Bipartisan Senate Letter Backs India’s Inclusion of Australia in Malabar naval exercise

Bipartisan Senate Letter Backs India’s Inclusion of Australia in Malabar naval exercise

Bipartisan Senate Letter Backs India’s Inclusion of Australia in Malabar naval exercise
Oct 21, 2020 1 min, 50 secs

Holding talks: Foreign Ministers of India, Australia, Japan and U.S.

A bipartisan group of Senators has written to India’s Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu backing India’s decision to invite Australia to the annual Malabar naval exercise.

The letter also asks India to join the Blue Dot Network — a U.S.-led collaboration with Australia and Japan that supports private-sector led infrastructure financing opportunities in response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The letter says strengthening the Quad — the group comprising India, the U.S., Australia and Japan — has become especially important in the face of China’s “rising military and economic assertiveness”.

Also read: Australia to join Malabar naval exercise next month.

“We write in strong support of India’s decision to formally invite Australia to participate in the annual Exercise Malabar, which was made following the recent 2+2 ministerial meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue [the Quad] in Tokyo,” the Senators wrote.

India’s invitation to Australia to join this year’s exercise comes three years after Canberra had asked to join the programme.

The Senators’ letter called Australia a “uniquely capable and stalwart partner,” saying its addition to the Malabar exercise would provide increased interoperability, strengthen threat assessment abilities and enhance “the maritime roles and missions of the four naval powers”.

“However, of equal importance is the symbolic nature of Australia’s inclusion in Malabar, marking the first time that the United States, India, Japan and Australia will engage collectively at the military level since the formation of the Quad and the Quad-plus-Singapore naval exercises held in September 2007,” the Senators wrote.

The pandemic has exacerbated concerns about China’s BRI and debt-trap diplomacy as per the Senators’ letter, which calls for increased collaboration among Quad partners on infrastructure financing.

Also read: Quad | The confluence of four powers and two seas.

“For instance, the Blue Dot Network (BDN), launched in 2019 by the U.S., Japan and Australia, is an initiative that will bring together governments, the private sector and civil society to certify projects that uphold global infrastructure principles.

Given that three Quad partners are already involved in BDN, we encourage India’s participation in this promising initiative,” the Senators wrote.

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

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