SOURCE: TIMES NOW
Australia will participate in Malabar, the major naval exercise in the Indian Ocean next month, along with India, the United States and Japan. Discussions have been going on about getting Australia, the fourth member of the Quad, to take part. Sources said Australia’s participation is now final. The exercise is planned for late November in the Indian Ocean.
With Australia’s participation, all four Quad members will be involved in Malabar. Australia had taken part in Malabar much earlier, but this is the first time in recent years. The naval contingents of the four countries are being worked out. It will be finalized after a high-level meeting involving naval officials of the four countries. All four countries have spoken of freedom of navigation.
While China has not been directly mentioned, the statement by Pompeo being the exception, it is clearly the elephant in the room. China’s creation of islets in the south and east China sea to extend its maritime boundary has been a major cause of concern.
Australia’s participation in the exercise comes after the foreign minister-level Quad meeting in Tokyo, earlier this month. This was only the second time a Quad meeting involved foreign ministers. During the meeting, Mike Pompeo, the United States Secretary of State, strongly criticized the Chinese Communist Party’s role in the spreading of the coronavirus.
