India video summit strengthens ties in face of Chinese aggression

Australia and India have vowed to work together to keep the Indo-­Pacific sea lanes safe and forge closer defence and trade ties.

Scott Morrison greets the Indian Prime Minister via video link from Canberra. Picture: AAP

Australia and India have vowed to work together to keep the Indo-­Pacific sea lanes safe and to co-­operate on cyber security and key technology projects, under a new comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Scott Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ­elevated the bilateral relationship to new levels during their virtual ­summit on Thursday, building on shared democratic values as both nations seek to counter the rising Chinese influence in the region.

“It is time for our relationship to go broader and deeper,” the Prime Minister told Mr Modi via video link in Canberra.

“In a time like this, we want to deal very much with friends and trusted partners. And this is a partnership which has stood the test, time and again, and is during the course of this current crisis.

“We share a vision for open, free, rules-based multilateral ­systems in our region. Whether that is in the health area or trade or other places.

“We engage in those as confiden­t but sovereign nations.”

Mr Modi said that, as democracies, both nations had a “sacred responsibility” to uphold and protect “the rule of law, freedom, mutual respect, respect for international institutions, and transparency”.

“Today, when these values are being challenged in different ways, we can strengthen them by strengthening mutual relations,” the Indian leader said.

Mr Morrison and Mr Modi sealed new agreements on maritime security, critical minerals, medical supply chains and ensuring that cyber and technology standards “preserve an open, free, safe and secure internet”.

A new defence logistics agreement will allow greater inter­operability between the countries’ militaries, including reciprocal ­access to bases, and a new defence science and technology agreement will help maintain the two nations’ technological edge.

The leaders also agreed to restart­ talks on an elusive bilateral trade agreement, nine years after negotiations first commenced.

Indian leader Narendra Modi on the video conference call. Picture: AAP

A biennial meeting of both countries’ foreign and defence ministers will anchor the new comprehensive strategic partnership, which is Australia’s fourth after similar agreements with China, Singapore and Indonesia.

The Australia-China comprehensive strategic partnership is no longer living up to its name, with Australian ministers unable to raise Chinese counterparts on the phone, and ongoing concerns over Chinese Communist Party ­interference in Australian ­institutions.

The India-China relationship is also under immense strain, after China massed troops at strategic points along the 3488km border between the two countries in response­ to Indian road-building.

Under the newly signed maritime security partnership, both Australia and India commit to “supporting the rules-based maritime order in the region, founded on respect for the sovereignty of all nations and international law, particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea”.

The statement is an implicit challenge to China, whose construction of military outposts on disputed features in the South China Sea has been found to be a violation of the Law of the Sea.

“Expanded Australia-India co-operation will be marked by building stronger links between coast­guard and civil maritime agencies, and by developing deeper navy-to-navy engagement,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.

It will also work to combat ­people-smuggling, trafficking of arms and narcotics, terrorism and illegal fishing.

The virtual summit followed the cancellation of a planned state visit by Mr Morrison to India in January, due to the bushfire crisis.

The trip was rescheduled for May but had to be cancelled again amid the COVID-19 travel ­restrictions.

Former Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Peter Varghese said both Australia and India hoped to constrain China’s strategic ambitions in the region.