India, Australia plan strategic dialogue

By Amit Baruah

CANBERRA, JUNE 21. India and Australia have agreed to begin a ``strategic'' or political-military dialogue as the External Affairs and Defence Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, held talks with the Australian Defence Minister, Mr. Peter Reith, on enhancing bilateral defence cooperation.

Mr. Singh also called on the Australian Prime Minister, Mr. John Howard, and met with the Opposition leader, Mr. Kim Beazley, and the shadow Foreign Minister, Mr. Laurie Brereton, in Parliament House today.

Mr. Singh readily agreed to expanding defence relations beyond the current exchange of defence officers for training. He said he would send a team of senior officers to study how the system of the Australian Chief of Defence Staff worked at a time when India is looking to appoint its own CDS.

In a major departure from the Australian position, the issue of India signing the CTBT was not raised during the formal dialogue at the level of Defence Ministers. ``Not once was the issue raised,'' officials told this correspondent.

However, the anti-missile proposal of the United States came up for discussion with Mr. Reith and at the meeting with Mr. Beazley, whose Labour Party has reservations on the American scheme.

Mr. Singh is believed to have stressed the importance for discussions on the anti-missile defence issue and reiterated that the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty of 1972 should not be abrogated.

Australia's position is somewhat similar to that of India on the ABM Treaty, as it too has called for discussions on the Treaty.

The Australian Prime Minister and Mr. Beazley supported the invitation extended by the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, to the Pakistani President and Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to visit India for a summit meeting.

The External Affairs Minister explained that Gen. Musharraf's taking over as President would not have any bearing on the scheduled July 14-16 visit by Gen. Musharraf. Mr. Howard also expressed his support for enhancing the India-Australia bilateral relationship.

There is little doubt that the agreement to begin a security dialogue at the official level between India and Australia is a major turnaround in a relationship which had seen the snapping of all defence links at the behest of the Australian side after the Indian nuclear tests.

In another sign that it was business-as-usual, an Indian Navy ship will participate in Australia's centenary celebrations later this year. The Indian ship will be visiting Sydney.

It is clear that after hammering away at India for the nuclear tests and demanding that New Delhi accede to the CTBT and NPT, there is a recognition that Australia needs to soft-pedal these issues in the interest of developing a better bilateral relationship with India.

The Opposition leader, Mr. Beazley, did however suggest that India should sign the CTBT to which Mr. Singh responded that a national consensus was being built on the issue.

It is entirely possible that the issue of the CTBT and the NPT may be raised in tomorrow's inaugural Ministerial dialogue between Mr. Singh and the Australian Foreign Minister, Mr. Alexander Downer. However, the reference, if at all, will be a gentle one.

Interestingly, holding an official dialogue on strategic issues fits in with a larger Australian policy perspective. ``In the wider Asia-Pacific region, Australia will pursue its objective of supporting strategic stability by developing bilateral dialogues with key countries in the region and contributing to the development of multilateral security forums,'' a recent Australian White Paper on defence stated.

``Most of the time, Australia pursues its strategic objectives in close cooperation with its allies, neighbours and regional partners. Our strong alliance with the United States, in particular, is a key strategic asset that will support our bilateral, regional and global interests over the next decade and beyond,'' it said.

``The most critical issue for the security of the Asia-Pacific region is the nature of the relationships between the region's major powers - China, Japan, India, Russia and the United States,'' the White Paper added.

The issue of holding the strategic dialogue was first discussed during a separate meeting of senior officials of the two countries recently.

After completing his meetings in Canberra, Mr. Jaswant Singh flew to Adelaide this evening where he will hold formal talks with his Australian counterpart tomorrow.

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