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India snubs Oz, says no on pact with US
India on Thursday categorically rejected Australia’s bid for a trilateral security pact involving New Delhi and Washington. A “taken aback” Defence Ministry said “it is not keen on hopping on” to any such architecture and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) maintained it “wasn’t aware” of any such proposal.
Media reports have quoted Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd as not only favouring a trilateral security pact with India and US but also claiming that the response from New Delhi was “quite positive”.
Top Defence Ministry officials said here, “The Defence Ministry was taken aback today (Thursday) at the statement of Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, reported by a section of media, which suggested that India would be roped in to have a trilateral security pact between US, Australia and India.”
Officials said, “The Defence Minister is also not keen on hopping to any multilateral security constructs in the region excepting those under the UN flag or such broad-based arrangements as ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) or ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).”
Incidentally, the stiff response came days before Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith arrives here on December 7 to hold talks with his Indian counterpart AK Antony on the entire ambit of security and defence issues. The main issues on the discussion table include safety of sea lanes in the Indian Ocean, joint training and exercises, terrorism and implications for India after recent Washington announcement to base US Marines in Australia.
For its part, the External Affairs Ministry said: “We have seen media reports about the comments attributed to the Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on a possible three-way economic and security pact with the US and India. We are not aware of any such proposal.”
News reports have quoted Rudd backing a trilateral pact between the three countries if Canberra ends a ban on uranium sales to New Delhi. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard had recently said she was in favour of selling uranium to India. Smith had backed this proposal.
The Australian Foreign Minister’s defence pact proposal comes against the backdrop of Washington’s recent announcement to set up a US Marine Corps base in north Australia which provides military reach into south-east Asia and the South China Sea.
In an interview with an Australian newspaper, Rudd was quoted as saying a new trilateral pact bringing in India into a US-Australian security tent was worth exploring because from “little things big things grow”.
The news reports also said it was unclear why Rudd, a Mandarin speaking Sinophile, would risk irritating Australia’s top trade partner China which is already nervous about US President Barack Obama’s latest push into the Asia-Pacific is part of broader US policy to encircle it.
