The landmark virtual summit between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Scott Morrison in June 2020 led to ties being upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Australia’s High Commissioner to India alluded to the four D’s—Democracy, Defence, Diaspora, Dosti (friendship), with increased focus on Defence. In the India–Australia partnership, the emphasis is on maritime security cooperation, Quad 2.0, the Malabar exercises as well as cyber security and intelligence cooperation.
With Southeast Asia, India has been enjoying the historical legacy of the strong influence of the Indic civilization and has been strengthening its linkages through strategic engagement, economic liberalization and Free Trade Agreement with the ASEAN countries. After 1992, India formulated its defence diplomacy in consonance with the ‘Look East’ policy to safeguard its eastern seaboard and secure its strategic interests in the Indian Ocean region.
As India deepens its strategic engagement with the countries of South East Asia, ASEAN needs to make up its mind on the mechanisms required to tackle core security issues instead of outsourcing them to a multitude of organisations.
Publisher: Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses 2010
The book is an attempt to highlight contemporary global issues and discuss them in the context of the role of India and New Zealand in dealing with those emerging challenges. An attempt has been made to put contemporary issues like multilateralism in Asia, global financial crisis, security aspects in the Asia Pacific, and the rise of China in perspective as well as discuss the nuances of bilateral ties between the two countries.
While there are many positive developments between Vietnam and the US, it is still to be seen how the elites and military in Vietnam interpret US overtures.
The central question is whether democracy or semi-democracy should be subordinated to the personal ambitions of a few leaders like Thaksin or should the rule of law prevail.
India-Indonesia: Towards Strategic Convergence
President Yudhoyono’s visit is likely to take the strategic partnership to the next level.