New Delhi: India on Thursday chose not to comment on the launch of a historic security partnership among the US, the UK and Australia that will provide for deeper cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and ensure greater sharing of defence capabilities within the trilateral alliance. The partnership, seen as an effort to counter China in the Indo-Pacific, will allow the US and the UK to provide Australia with the technology to develop nuclear-powered submarines for the first time. "I do not have anything to share on this at this moment," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said replying to a volley of questions on the new security partnership.
It is learnt that Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton called up their Indian counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh on Wednesday to apprise them about the new partnership called 'AUKUS' (Australia, the UK and the US). Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison held a conversation on Wednesday.
Specifically asked about unveiling of the 'AUKUS' (Australia, the UK and the US) partnership days ahead of the first in-person summit of the Quad or Quadrilateral Coalition, Bagchi said the upcoming summit stands on its own. "I think the Quad summit stands on its own. It is extremely important as I mentioned…Clearly Quad partners attach lot of importance to it. You can see that in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, an in-person summit is happening. I would not like to comment or speculate on implications (of AUKUS)," Bagchi said.
The Quad comprises India, the US, Japan and Australia. The US is hosting the in-person Quad summit in Washington on September 24. Asked whether India could get critical cyber technologies from Australia and the UK given that the US agreed to share them with the two countries under AUKUS, Bagchi only said: "We have a very robust relationship with Australia." The AUKUS partnership will also facilitate sharing of various other critical technologies among the partner countries.
"Through AUKUS, our governments will strengthen the ability of each to support our security and defence interests, building on our longstanding and ongoing bilateral ties," a joint statement issued by US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Morrison and British PM Boris Johnson said. It said the three countries will promote deeper information and technology sharing and will significantly deepen cooperation on a range of security and defence capabilities.
"As the first initiative under AUKUS, recognising our common tradition as maritime democracies, we commit to a shared ambition to support Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy," it said. The statement said the development of Australia's nuclear-powered submarines would be a joint endeavour between the three nations, with a focus on interoperability, commonality, and mutual benefit. France criticised its exclusion from the alliance, saying it reflects a lack of coherence when common challenges are being faced in the Indo-Pacific region. In its reaction, China criticised the security alliance saying it will gravely undermine regional stability and aggravate the arms race.
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