India-Australia summit and signals to China

After a riposte to China's bullying tactics, India must now focus on the economic pillar of the Indo-Pacific strategy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, made history with their virtual summit on June 4. They upgraded India-Australia relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, issued a “Shared Vision for Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific” and concluded as many as nine bilateral agreements, of which the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement(MLSA) is the most significant. The two countries have now raised their bi-annual 2+2 bilateral foreign and defence secretary level talks to the ministerial level. This is noteworthy as this format is currently confined to the US and Japan. This means that India now has institutionalised high-level political