India, Australia ‘agree to disagree’ on Ukraine war but Quad united in desire to counter China in Indo-Pacific: analysts
- Two nations able to focus on bigger goal of dealing with China and working with the rest of Quad, rather than differences over invasion
- But a weakened Moscow needing Beijing, while India needs Russian arms and oil, amid possible China-India border tensions, may be issue
While India and Australia hold differing views over Russia’s war in Ukraine, at least one analyst has said that both countries are able to “compartmentalise” their differences and focus on their bigger goal of countering Chinese influence in the region.
On Monday, Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong said India’s close military and trade ties with Russia would not undermine the effectiveness of the Quad security partnership.
Speaking at a press conference at the end of a visit to Canberra by India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar, both ministers also said that the Quad partnership between India, Australia, Japan and the United States was “functioning extremely well”.
In July, India overtook China to become the biggest buyer of Russian oil, prompting concerns that India is not standing shoulder to shoulder with other Quad members in imposing sanctions on Russia and taking it to task for launching the war in Ukraine.
Geoffrey Miller, an international analyst with the Democracy Project at New Zealand’s Victoria University said India and Australia had been able to “compartmentalise their differences” even since the war began on February 24, focusing on shared interests in the region.