{"id":29708,"date":"2020-10-21T16:51:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T16:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/21\/chinas-provocations-propel-decision-to-include-australia-in-upcoming-malabar-exercise\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:26:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:26:28","slug":"chinas-provocations-propel-decision-to-include-australia-in-upcoming-malabar-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2020\/10\/21\/chinas-provocations-propel-decision-to-include-australia-in-upcoming-malabar-exercise\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s provocations propel decision to include Australia in upcoming Malabar exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

India announced<\/a> on Monday that the Australian Navy would join the November 2020 Malabar exercise<\/a> \u2014 an annual, high-end joint exercise conducted predominantly at sea that has included only American, Indian and Japanese forces in recent years. This decision, which demonstrates growing multilateral concern regarding China\u2019s increasingly aggressive behavior<\/a>, offers an opportunity for the \u201cQuad\u201d of democratic nations to strengthen defense cooperation and deter additional aggression from Beijing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malabar is an annual maritime exercise that rotates between the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific, and grew out of a largely bilateral exercise conducted between the United States and India beginning in 1992. The exercise permanently expanded<\/a> into a trilateral exercise between India, the United States and Japan beginning in 2015. The Indian government is hosting this year\u2019s exercise in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its statement, New Delhi said the Malabar participants \u201ccollectively support [a] free, open and inclusive Pacific and remain committed to a rules based international order.\u201d Australia\u2019s foreign and defense ministers jointly stated<\/a> that the exercise \u201cwill bolster the ability of India, Australia, Japan and the United States to work together to uphold peace and stability across our region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement comes on the heels of a successful Quad foreign ministers meeting in Tokyo two weeks ago, in which each of the four democracies expressed support for a free and open Pacific. While America\u2019s partners were more subtle, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made clear what was driving the closer cooperation among the four countries.<\/p>\n\n\n