India-Australia alliance continues

Amidst the visit to Australia by India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar - the latest in a flurry of high-profile bilateral visits - the promise of mutual benefit looks set to finally mature

Both India and Australia, though allies in the Quad, have opposite policies on this conflict.

world, and that continues to guide our thinking.”

BY PAWAN LUTHRA

That India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar made a second visit to Australia in a period of eight months, shows the desire by both countries in deepening their relationship.

This fact was brought up a few times during his trip, and not by himself alone. Minister Jaishankar also brought up on more than one occasion that six of his cabinet colleagues have visited Australia since June this year, among them the Minister for Coal and Mines for renewable energy, for Education, for Water Resources, and the Home Minister.

“We have also seen the Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister as well as the Deputy Premier of Western Australia, and the Premier of New South Wales travel to India with business delegations,” Dr Jaishankar noted. Yet this was also the first visit by the External Affairs Minister to Australia since the Ukraine–Russia conflict started.

While Australia has joined the United States and other western democracies on condemning Russia on this transgression, India has resolutely stood by Russia, refusing to join any United Nations censure of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and has continued trading and buying oil from the country.

The issue came up for comment almost as soon as questions began at a Canberra press conference. Asked about the close relationship, Mr Jaishankar clarified that India has been very clearly against the conflict in Ukraine.

“We believe that this conflict does not serve the interests of anybody, neither of the participants nor indeed of the international community,” he stated. “And as a country of the Global South, we have been seeing firsthand how much it has impacted low-income countries [in terms of] the challenges that they are facing with fuel, food, and fertilizers. My Prime Minister said a few weeks ago that this is not an era of war; a conflict today in some corner of the world can have a very profound impact on everybody across the

On the question of any changes to its relationship with Russia Dr Jaishankar reiterated the long-standing relationship with Russia, which “has certainly served India’s interests well.”

Whether the performance of Russian weapons systems in Ukraine has given India cause to think about reducing its reliance on those weapons systems, Dr Jaishankar acknowledged India has a substantial inventory of Soviet and Russian origin weapons, pointing the finger at the United States for this situation. He stated, “For multiple decades, Western countries did not supply weapons to India and in fact, saw a military dictatorship next to us as the preferred partner. In international politics, we deal with what we have; we make judgements which are reflective of both our future interests as well as our current situation. In terms of this current conflict, like every military conflict, my sense is that we are learning from it and I’m sure my very professional colleagues in the military would be studying it very carefully.”

The only question not focussed on India, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Quad and

AUKUS, centred on security concerns of the Indian diaspora. Recently, India issued a travel warning for its citizens in Canada and those planning to travel there, citing a sharp increase in incidents of hate crimes, sectarian violence, and anti-India activities. The travel warning seemed to follow a Khalistan referendum voting in Brampton. This would no doubt be an area of concern for those even here in Australia, who have been witnessing growing communal tensions in major cities like Sydney and Melbourne, primarily flowing over from events taking place in India.

The Minister was asked, how concerned is India about such activities spreading internationally as the community grows, including in Australia?

In his clear and soft manner, the Minister took this opportunity to chide Canada. He said, “I want to be very clear here, when we issue travel advisories, we do so for the safety of our citizens. So I would urge you not to read something into a travel advisory which is beyond the advisory. What some other country does presumably reflects their thinking and their policies. As to the Khalistan issue that you have raised, you know from time to time, we have engaged the Canadian government. I have myself

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar at a press conference after a bilateral meeting at Parliament House in Canberra, October 10, 2022. (photo: Ap)