'Antony's Aus visit is a clear sign of strategic cooperation'

Defence Minister A K Antony's just-concluded historic visit to Australia and the big "take-aways" are a clear sign that both countries are serious about a more in-depth strategic relationship in the changing Indo-Pacific region, an expert here has said.
"I think the visit is a clear sign that both countries are serious about a more in-depth strategic relationship in this changing region, Rory Medcalf, a Melbourne-based specialist on Indian strategic affairs and Director of International Security Programme at Lowy Institute for International Policy, said.
"But what's an even more tangible sign is the agreement to have an annual practical naval exercise between the two countries. That's a serious forward in cooperation," he told the ABC Radio in an interview.

Medcalf called announcement of the naval exercise as the the key outcome of the visit.
He said "beyond that, there was a wider sense of engagement, a wider sense of building dialogues, to discuss shared strategic issues - interesting collaborations in areas like shared military history - the Gallipoli campaign that's so important to Australia's identity, is a conflict in which India fought as well."
"I would emphasise the naval exercises and the wider sense of strategic partnership, are big 'take-aways' in themselves. Further down the track, there'll be some more substantial outcomes, I think, such as cooperation in areas like surveillance and technology, but that's still quite some way away," Medcalf said.

Antony, who is the first ever Indian Defence Minister to visit Australia, had met his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith and held wide-ranging talks on shared strategic and security interests, including maritime security and defence ties.

The two sides agreed to continue ongoing bilateral Naval exchanges to build confidence and familiarity between the their Navies and work towards a bilateral maritime exercise in 2015.
On China's interpretation about the Antony's trip, Medcalf said, "I don't think China needs to be specifically troubled about this. Australia has held occasional naval exercises with China as well. So in some ways, we're simply bringing the India relationship to the level that it should've been quite some time ago."

"At the same time, of course, there's a delicate game going on across Indo-Pacific-Asia, of countries doing dialogues or naval exercises with different partners - balancing or hedging against the risk that things may get more dangerous in the future. But I don't think China needs to see this as a kind of anti-China alignment," he said.
"The real fact is, that India does not firmly ally with anyone, and we're simply learning to operate with the Indians for a whole range of contingencies, many of which have nothing to do with China.