Closer security ties, joint naval exercises and strengthening the military relationship are expected to top the agenda in the first ever high level trilateral meeting between India, Japan and Australia that New Delhi is hosting today.
While the UPA had been long desisting the move, given the strong protest that China had registered the last time the three nations had carried out such joint talks with the US in 2007 that was accompanied with a Naval exercise, the BJP government has taken a fresh approach to initiate trilateral talks at the Foreign Secretary level.
The first meeting – to be attended by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki and Australian Secretary of the department of foreign affairs and Trade, Peter Varghese -will focus on an update on the present security of economic environment of the region as well as developments in the South China sea.
Security cooperation, particularly in the naval arena, is expected to dominate the discussions. Sources in the Indian Navy said that preliminary talks have taken place and a joint exercise between the three nations is a good possibility. India has already made its intention clear of conducting joint naval war games with Japan and Australia in the past.
While the US is not part of the trilateral discussions, Washington is the main security ally of both Japan and Australia and is positioning itself as the security provider of the Asia Pacific with its `pivot’ the region with more deployments and exercises.
Among other issues, the recent phenomenon of artificial islands that China is creating in disputed maritime areas in the South China Sea region is also expected to come up for discussion.
Source: ET
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