Australia’s high commissioner Peter Varghese has underlined a growing congruence of strategic interests with India and pushed for closer cooperation in creating an inclusive regional architecture in East Asia.
“There is an increasing convergence of strategic interests between India and Australia and we are seeing issues in broadly similar terms,” he told the Commonwealth Journalists Association.
“We have a combination of hard interests in the region.”
Prime Minister Julia Gillard had a highly successful visit to India in October.
Inclusive regionalism
Keeping China’s growing presence in the region in context, Mr Varghese said that India and Australia were keen on “open regionalism, inclusive regionalism and balanced power relations in Asia.”
“We want an open and inclusive regional architecture. The strategic environment will be decided by maritime security and freedom of navigation,” he said.
He also emphasised the need for greater cooperation in the region and pitched for reform of global governance institutions.
“The G20 is an exciting opportunity. We need an international architecture that is more reflective of new distribution of economic and strategic power,” he said.
Conjuring an upbeat picture of India-Australia ties and burgeoning Indian investment in his country, Varghese said that the idea of strategic partnership had every prospect of being a reality.
He said China should become a part of the inclusive and balanced architecture in the region as a responsible stakeholder in the international system.
Mr Varghese however, cautioned against any policy of containment of China, saying that it was better to integrate and stressed Beijing into the evolving a regional architecture.
Strategic pacts
During the visit of Gillard last month, India and Australia took a bold step to open a new chapter in their bilateral ties by deciding to start negotiations for a civil nuclear deal, paving the way for the sale of uranium by Canberra to New Delhi.
Seeking to recast their relationship, the two sides inked four pacts, including one on civilian space cooperation, and announced a slew of steps to boost ties that included annual meetings at the summit level, a ministerial-level dialogue on energy security and setting up of a water technology partnership.
(Picture by Press Information Bureau, Government of India)
