FICCI

Interactive Seminar on Investment in Australia

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry

India-Australia Strategic Relations: Potentials and Challenges

Dr.W.Lawrence Prabhakar
Founding Member, Centre for Security Analysis, Chennai Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Madras Christian College, Chennai, India

Format of Presentation
Essence of Strategic Engagement Significance of India-Australia Strategic Engagement Substance of India-Australia Strategic Engagement India-Australia Strategic Convergences: Potential and Challenges Assessment

Essence of Strategic Engagement

Strategic Engagement is the comprehensive convergence of bilateral relations in political- diplomatic, economiccommercial, scientific-technical-educational; and military-to-military partnerships forged-- based on consensus with a view to promote deeper relations; Strategic engagement opens possibilities and avenues of cooperation, convergence for collective endeavours based on mutual benefit; Strategic engagement promotes a functional basis of bilateral cooperation; Strategic engagement is based on an eclectic blend of defensive realism and neo-realism that combines the essence of power and cooperation;

Essence of Strategic Engagement

Substance of Engagement Strategic Visions--Comparative Strategic perspectives; Values and NormsDemocracy, Free markets etc; Frameworks of Relations--Cooperative security and Convergent security; Issues and PerspectivesPolitical, Economic, Commercial, Trade and Strategic dimensions.

Significance of India-Australia Strategic Engagement

From earlier estrangement to emergent engagement based on issues of globalization, and Indias rise; Concert of Democracies proposition USJapan-India-Australia; Convergence over terrorism and counterterrorism cooperation Indias expanding Diaspora in Australia and its contribution to Australian economy;

Significance of India-Australia Strategic Engagement

India and Australia are thriving democracies with vital interests to promote and preserve the democratic essence of political, civic and vast economic potential in respective countries Democratic Peace; India and Australia have shared consensus on the scope and stakes of globalization; India and Australia have a common federal structure of polity that addresses constitutional and foreign policy issues

Significance of India-Australia Strategic Engagement

Convergence between India and Australia emerges from the following issues of global and regional concern: The rise of China, and the reshaping of Asia; the future role of the United States in Asia and the emerging balance of power; The importance of Southeast Asia-- specially Indonesia; Indias interests in the PacificFiji--Australias reciprocity ; Intelligence cooperation and capacity building responses to transnational terrorism and criminal networks; Naval cooperation between RAN and IN a) Regional Maritime Domain Partnership convergent with IONS (Indian Ocean Naval Symposium) coordinating with Southeast Asian states; b) Maritime Intelligence sharing and naval exercises with RAN ships in bilateral patterns;

Substance of India-Australia Strategic Engagement

Integrated Ocean management policy in the Indian Ocean i) crimes at sea, such as piracy, terrorism and insurgency, drug trafficking; ii)disaster management in the form of tsunamis, cyclones, floods and earthquakes; iii) marine safety, including search and rescue (SAR), salvage, accidents at sea; possible cooperation between Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and the new Australian Joint Offshore Protection Command to cooperate on long range identification and tracking of ships (LRIT) systems based on existing SAR regions in the Indian Ocean iv) environmental degradation from oil spills, waste disposal and pollution by ships v)protection of shipping, trade and keeping sea-lines of communication open at all times vi) offshore territorial conflicts generated by a need to control energy resources, fisheries and minerals vii) Weapons of mass destruction proliferation management.

Scope of India-Australia Strategic Engagement

Energy security relationship-Australian sale of Uranium to India under the NSG waiver for India; Economic interdependence of India and Australia-Indias need for minerals for its expanding industrial economy; Indias skilled human resources from its military sector for Australias Defence Forces ; Cooperation on Humanitarian issues of Maritime Security in tackling climate change induced disasters in the Indian Ocean similar to the Operation Unified Assistance in 2004 in the posttsunami relief operations; India-Australia cooperation is evident in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and the Thousand-Ship Navy (TSN) initiative.

I
India-Australia Strategic Convergences: Potential and Challenges

Strategic relations between India and Australia would be conditioned on how New Delhi and Canberra would view each powers role in the Asia-Pacific security architecture; While the rise of China and the retreat of the US would forge greater cooperation between India and Australiathey would not be enduring factors; since both powers have their respective paths of strategic autonomy; Australias sensitivities towards Indias nuclear programme and the reluctance of sale of Uranium to India while a similar sale to China contradicts Australias position on nuclear proliferation; Attacks on Indians have exacerbated tensions between the two countries; Indias demographic quotient offers to Australia a higher skill advantage

Assessment
India and Australia have a substantial agenda to deepen strategic engagement on the basis of economic interdependence and strategic vision of a peaceful democratic Asia; The India-Australia fulcrum of strategic cooperation would be in the Southeast Asia-Indian Ocean Region that would bring greater maritime cooperation to tackle transnational threats; Greater economic interdependence based on globalization that is deferential to human development would be a critical factor for both India and Australia even as they contend several transnational threats; India-Australia naval and maritime cooperation would be a vital and stabilizing factor in the strategic partnership having vital effects on the emergent Asian security architecture; India and Australia need to rework on the issue of Indians in Australia who have been subject to repeated criminal attacks.

God Bless India and Australia