India-Australia’s growing partnership built on military ties and concerns about China’s rise

 After five decades of testy or distant strategic relations, India and Australia began in the early 2000s to forge an increasingly cooperative defence and security partnership. The primary drivers were similar concerns about China’s rise, behaviour, and assertiveness, as well as converging views about the regional strategic landscape.

Today, the bilateral relationship between India and Australia is far broader and more cooperative than it has been at any time in history. India has become Australia’s fifth-largest export destination (up from twelfth at the turn of the century), and Australia is now a top-20 trade partner for India. There is also growing political cooperation, including in multilateral institutions such as the Commonwealth, G20, and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). For example, in IORA, India and Australia coordinated closely in establishing the secretariat in Mauritius, and in working with Indonesia during its chairmanship of the organisation in 2015–2016. 

Read more: https://theprint.in/opinion/india-australia-partnership-military-ties-china-rise/511879/