As I see it | China’s nightmare scenario of an ‘eastern Nato’ starts to take shape. Donald Trump isn’t the only reason
- News Australia will join India, US and Japan in Malabar naval exercises will only heighten Beijing’s fears of an Indo-Pacific Quad
- Countries that were once wary of antagonising China are being brought together by their shared concerns about its behaviour
India’s announcement on Monday that it would include Australia in its Malabar naval drill with the United States and Japan is likely to become a watershed moment in the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific.
The decision marks a major change of heart for New Delhi, which until recently balked at choosing sides in the US-China rivalry.
Australia’s return to the annual war games, which will be held in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea later this year, is also a big step towards turning the grouping, officially known as the Quad, into a US-led alliance targeting China.
While it is too early to tell if it will become an “Indo-Pacific Nato”, as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi suggested last week, the emergence of an anti-China bloc on its doorstep is a nightmare for Beijing.
But it is perhaps not as surprising as it appeared initially.
It came just days after foreign ministers from the four countries met in Tokyo to discuss Australia’s participation in the exercise.