Opinion The Express View on Modi-Albanese meet: Canberra calling

The four-day visit of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has helped consolidate Australia’s position in the A list of India’s valued partners. Thanks to the sustained efforts of the political leadership in both the capitals in recent years, the long-standing synergies between the two nations are now being translated into concrete outcomes in the political, economic, and the security domains. During the Cold War, the occasional efforts at overcoming the political divergences in the worldviews of Delhi and Canberra did not succeed because there was little economic cooperation between the two countries. It was only after India’s economic liberalisation that followed soon after the Cold War came to an end that the complementarity between India’s economic growth and Australia’s rich natural resources came into view. Yet, it took nearly three decades for policies to catch up with new possibilities. The Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement that opened the door for freer commerce between the two nations came into force at the end of 2022. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Albanese are pushing for their trade bureaucracies to quickly complete the negotiations on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CECA) that will further integrate the two economies.

Meanwhile, the deterioration of regional security environment marked by the rise of an increasingly assertive Beijing has nudged Delhi and Canberra closer together in deepening their bilateral security cooperation as well as join hands in such minilateral institutions as the Quadrilateral forum as well as regional multilateral forums such as the Indian Ocean Rim Association and the East Asia Summit. While Delhi and Canberra can’t accept Beijing’s efforts to exercise hegemony over Asia and the Indo-Pacific, they are conscious that China is here to stay as a major force and are eager to develop a reasonable and mutually beneficial relationship with Beijing. Neither Modi nor Albanese want to join a containment ring against China, but are determined to promote a stable regional security architecture in the Indo-Pacific.

Advertisement

The convergences on the economic and security front have been reinforced by the rapidly growing size of the Indian diaspora in Australia. At nearly a million, the Indian origin population is now about 3 per cent of the total inhabitants of Australia. The flows of Indian technical talent and skilled labour into Australia are likely to grow further in the years ahead. But this “living bridge” also generates new problems. PM Modi flagged the recent vandalisation of Indian temples in Australia by Khalistani groups with Albanese. The Australian PM has underlined Canberra’s commitment to crackdown on such attacks. While Delhi is right in raising the issue with Canberra, it should also reflect on one important fact. The sharpening religious polarisation within India is dividing our diaspora everywhere, including in Australia. Delhi, then, has much responsibility in limiting the divide at home and preventing hate crimes that have massive external impact.