China biggest security threat: Australia

| | New Delhi
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China biggest security threat: Australia

Friday, 24 June 2022 | Pioneer News Service | New Delhi

Australia on Thursday said China is the “biggest security anxiety” as it is seeking to shape the world in a way that was not seen before. It also slammed China for its “appalling behaviour” towards Indian soldiers two years ago in the Galwan valley in Ladakh.

Twenty Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer, were killed in a bloody brawl with the Chinese troops on June 15, 2020. These remarks by visiting Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles here came against the backdrop of China flexing its muscles in the Indo-Pacific, the South China Sea and the ongoing tension at the border in Ladakh.

Sounding this note of caution, Marles said India too has similar security concerns and that Australia stands in solidarity with New Delhi over its border row with China.

He also expressed concern over growing defence and security cooperation between China and Russia, suggesting that it could have implications for the region. The visiting dignitary made these observations during an interaction with journalists.

Marles said New Delhi and Canberra are strongly committed to expand defence and security ties as his country sees India as “completely central” to its world view.     

“For Australia, China is our largest trading partner and so is for India. For Australia, China is our largest security concern, that is also the same for India,” he said.

India and Australia are working closely together not only to build our relationship economically but also in the context of defence so that together we are engaging more deeply to enhance the defence and security of both our nations, Marles said.       

In an apparent reference to the Galwan Valley clashes in eastern Ladakh over two years back, Marles said his country stands in solidarity with India in respect of that incident. Twenty Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer, were killed in a bloody brawl with the Chinese troops on June 15, 2020. More than 40 Chinese soldiers were also killed in the clash.

 China is seeking to “shape the world around it in a way that we have not seen before”, and that has resulted in “more assertive Chinese behaviour”, especially in the last couple of years, Marles said.

“We’ve seen it in respect of the Line of Actual Control (LAC)… the incident that occurred a couple of years ago, where there was an appalling behaviour towards Indian soldiers, and we stand in solidarity with India in respect of that incident,” he said

China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea is aimed at deterring Australia’s activities to protect the rules-based order in that region, including the freedom of navigation and overflight, Marles said. Greater cooperation between Australia and India in the face of such Chinese assertiveness is “absolutely imperative,” he said.

“It is really important that we live in a world where there is a rules-based order, where disputes between countries are resolved as per a set of rules and in a peaceful way,” Marles said. On the Ukraine crisis, Marles said, “What we are seeing in UKraine is having an impact on global food supply and that is a real concern.”

He said a large country was seeking to overpower a smaller neighbor and this principle was there too in the Indo-Pacific.

Asked about the Quad comprising India, Australia, the US and Japan, Marles said it is not a security alliance as there is no defence pillar to it.

With China forging a security pact with the Solomon Islands in the Pacific, Marles favoured Australia and India working together in the region.

The security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands was a cause of concern for Australia, as any move to establish a Chinese military base in the region “would greatly change Australia’s national security landscape”.

Marles said there is a lot of scope for cooperation with India in the Pacific, while noting the significant Indian diaspora in Fiji, the work already done by the two sides to supply Covid-19 vaccines to Kiribati, and to support Tonga after an earthquake and tsunami in January.

“There’s probably never been a moment in our two countries’ respective histories when we have been more strategically aligned,” Marles said, highlighting the role played by the Indian diaspora in Australia in fields such as politics.

Besides building economic ties, deeper engagement in defence enhances the security of both India and Australia, which have shared values and geographies. “In that respect, all roads lead to India,” he added.

In their wide-ranging talks, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Marles on Wednesday resolved to further expand bilateral defence and military ties in sync with the India-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership.

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