The 24th edition of the Malabar exercise commenced on 3rd November 2020. Exercise Malabar is a trilateral naval exercise involving the United States, Japan and India as permanent partners. Originally, Malabar commenced in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between India and the United States. The first naval exercise, named Malabar-I, between India and the United States was held in May 1992. It was of an elementary level, including passing exercises and basic manoeuvres. Three exercises were conducted before 1998, when the Americans suspended the exercises following India’s test of nuclear weapons. US had imposed sanctions on both India and Pakistan, which had followed suit, conducting tit-for-tat nuclear weapons tests.
In the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, Indo-US military ties were renewed after India became a US ally, joining President George W. Bush’s campaign against international terrorism. Thus, after a gap of five years, the Indo-US Malabar naval exercise resumed in 2002. Over the years, the exercise has been conducted in the Philippine Sea, off the coast of Japan, in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
Japan joined the Malabar series of exercises in 2007, becoming a permanent partner in 2015. Past non-permanent participants include Singapore and Australia. The annual Malabar exercises includes diverse activities, ranging from fighter combat operations from aircraft carriers through maritime interdiction operations, anti-submarine warfare, diving salvage operations, amphibious operations, counter-piracy operations, cross-deck helicopter landings and anti-air warfare operations.
Australia also participated in the Malabar for the first time in 2007. Now after a gap of 13 years, Australia’s participation in the drills in 2020, will complete the regional grouping known as the Quad.
Also known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, Quad 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 then Vice President Dick Cheney of the US, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India. The dialogue was paralleled by the Malabar joint military exercise.
Sino-US trade rivalry heightened in the Trump era and Malabar 2020 is a show of force. Sino-Indian ties became tested, when India attempted illegal construction of a highway across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh region and Chinese military gave a sound thrashing to the Indian troops
Quad was perceived as an aggressive design against China, which issued formal diplomatic protests to the members of Quad. The first iteration of the Quad ceased to exist following the withdrawal of Australia in February 2008, shortly after Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd took office, after a joint naval exercise between the Quad and Singapore drew diplomatic protests from China. Other reasons for the discontinuation of the Quad were that in late 2007, more Beijing-friendly Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda replaced Abe in Japan and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s state visit to China in January 2008, during which he stated that the India-China relationship was a priority.
India, Japan, and the United States continued to hold joint naval exercises through Malabar till 2019. Malabar 2020 sees Australia re-joining the Quad engaging militarily. The current exercise is in two phases, Phase-I was from 3 to 6 November near the coast of Visakhapatnam in the Bay of Bengal and the Phase-II is from 17 to 20 November in the Arabian Sea. In view of the global pandemic COVID-19, Malabar 2020 is a “non-contact, at sea only” encounter.
Sino-US trade rivalry heightened in the Trump era and Malabar 2020 is a show of force. Sino-Indian ties became tested, when India attempted illegal construction of a highway across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh region and Chinese military gave a sound thrashing to the Indian troops. Smarting under the physical rebuke, India was more than keen to join Donald Trump’s tirade targeting China. Japan, which was overtaken in 2010 by China in its international economic ratings, has always been a rival to China, despite Beijing’s overtures to mend fences. Australia has come out openly opposing President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative and hurling accusations of lack of transparency by China in handling COVID-19.
Interestingly, Sri Lanka, has also voiced its concerns towards ‘Quad’ as a military alliance and the securitization of the Indian Ocean. Sri Lankan foreign secretary Jayanath Colombage expressed his country’s apprehensions at an online webinar on deepening India-Sri Lanka ties organized by Shillong-based think-tank Asian Confluence. Admiral Colombage, who is a former Sri Lankan Naval Chief, opined that Sri Lanka was at the intersection of two strategic policies in the Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific region. He noted that Sri Lanka was “very conscious of the militarization of maritime trade.” Referring to Australia joining the Malabar exercise, Colombage noted, “We are observing the rise of Quad as an exclusive military alliance. That is the problem. If Quad is aiming at economic revival, there are no issues.”
Some Western media, joined by the Indian ones, have reported that this year’s Malabar drill “is expected to irk China” or in provocative words of the kind, making the Quad seem more like an “anti-China bloc.” China itself highlighted the quad as a clique flexing muscles in the Asian-Pacific region. China has stated that regional situations should be taken into account when a drill is schemed and the motivation behind it explored. Beijing has been reserved in expressing antagonism but declared that “the actions by the relevant countries should be conducive to regional peace and stability, rather than the opposite.”
The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host, who has authored six books on current affairs, including three on China