New Delhi: In the wake of the aggressive action by China along the Sino-Indian border and South China Sea, India, Australia and Indonesia are set to hold two virtual meetings of their foreign and defence ministers to bolster regional cooperation and maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region, sources said.
The meetings have been on the cards for some time and the video conference of the foreign ministers – S Jaishankar, Marise Payne of Australia and Retno Marsudi of Indonesia – is expected later this month, and will be followed by the meeting of defence ministers, sources said.
“This is a fast moving trilateral with the defence and foreign ministers expected to meet over the next couple of months. All three countries have a shared interest in an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” the sources said.
The foreign ministers will focus on working collaboratively to strengthen regional institutions such as the East Asia Summit (EAS), which includes Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states and their dialogue partners, and the 22-member Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
The defence ministers will focus on maritime security cooperation at their subsequent meeting, the sources said.
Officials working on the initiative have coined the term “minilateral” to describe the coming together of the three countries.
“With the world’s biggest democracy, India, Asia’s oldest democracy, Australia, and the largest Muslim-majority democracy in the form of Indonesia, we think this could be one of the region’s most important minilaterals,” they said.
The final schedules for the meetings are yet to be finalised but Indonesian foreign minister Marsudi tweeted last week she had discussed the upcoming trilateral meet with her Australian counterpart Payne during a phone call on August 26.
Indonesian defence minister Prabowo Subianto’s visit to New Delhi in late July provided an opportunity for the two sides to discuss expansion of security cooperation and China’s activities in the region.
Subianto was one of the rare foreign leaders to visit India amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The possible sale of the BrahMos cruise missile to Indonesia had figured in talks. A statement issued by India’s defence ministry said both ministers agreed to take defence ties to the “next level of deliverables”.
Australian high commissioner Barry O’Farrell, while delivering a speech at India’s National Defence College in April, had said the three countries should identify new ways in which they can collaborate to be the “best possible custodians of the Indian Ocean.”
Rear Admiral (Retd) Sudarshan Shrikhande, a strategic affairs expert who focuses on the Indo-Pacific, described the planned meetings as a good development, especially in view of growing concerns about China.
“An increasing number of nations globally, but even more so across the Indo-Pacific are seriously concerned about China’s claims, belligerence and arm-twisting while recognising the potential of its powerful military,” he said.
“A coming together of Australia, Indonesia and India could be a key contributor to stability, freedom of the commons and mutual understanding and respect,” Shrikhande said, adding the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad will have greater heft if it expands regional security cooperation to involve Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
