India has finally planned to invite Australia to join the annual Malabar naval exercise that has so far included just Japan and the U.S., in a move that could risk China’s ire.

Go through the list for once. UPSC may ask a match the pair type question asking exercise name and countries involved.

[Prelims Spotlight] Defence Exercises

About Ex. Malabar

• Exercise Malabar is a trilateral naval exercise involving the United States, Japan and India as permanent partners.
• Originally begun in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between India and the United States, Japan became a permanent partner in 2015.
• Past non-permanent participants are Australia and Singapore.
• The annual Malabar series began in 1992 and includes diverse activities, ranging from fighter combat operations from aircraft carriers through Maritime Interdiction Operations Exercises.

Significance of Australia’s inclusion

• Earlier, India had concerns that it would give the appearance of a “quadrilateral military alliance” aimed at China.
• Now both look forward to the cooperation in the ‘Indo-Pacific’ and the strengthening of defence ties.
• This has led to a convergence of mutual interest in many areas for a better understanding of regional and global issues.
• Both are expected to conclude the long-pending Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) as part of measures to elevate the strategic partnership.

Back2Basics: Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD)

• The QSD is an informal strategic forum between the United States, Japan, Australia and India that is maintained by semi-regular summits, information exchanges and military drills between member countries.
• The forum was initiated as a dialogue in 2007 by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, with the support of Vice President Dick Cheney of the US, PM John Howard of Australia and PM Manmohan Singh of India.
• The dialogue was paralleled by joint military exercises of an unprecedented scale, titled Exercise Malabar.
• The diplomatic and military arrangement was widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese economic and military power, and the Chinese government responded to it by issuing formal diplomatic protest.
• The QSD was recently revived considering the tensions in the South China Sea caused primarily by China and its territorial ambitions.

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