{"id":1251,"date":"2020-06-07T12:39:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-07T12:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depthtrade.com\/?p=1251"},"modified":"2021-06-02T17:00:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T17:00:05","slug":"eye-on-china-australia-india-form-close-alliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/depth\/eye-on-china-australia-india-form-close-alliance\/","title":{"rendered":"Eye on China: Australia & India form close alliance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
From Washington’s point of view, it will be a matter of joining forces in this region – together with allies Australia, New Zealand, Japan and India – to keep China’s ambitions in check. From Beijing’s point of view, the new alliance may accordingly be viewed with great suspicion, also in view of the recent disputes in the border region in the Himalayas.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n India and Australia yesterday announced enhanced bilateral cooperation that will result in a full-fledged strategic partnership. Among many other (mainly economic) areas, this also includes closer cooperation in the military field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Needless to say, this new agreement is very much in line with changing conditions in the Asia-Pacific region. From both the Indian and Australian perspectives, relations with the People’s Republic of China have deteriorated significantly since the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n India is counting on being able to diplomatically signal to the People’s Republic of China that it has wide-ranging options to keep its Chinese neighbor at bay, while army units from both nations are currently hostile to each other in the Himalayan Mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n India and China are currently eyeing each other in the remote Ladakh region of the western Himalayas. High-altitude mountain ridges have become a new staging area where once again contentious issues over the border between India and China have flared up and just won’t settle down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n India, meanwhile, has deployed specially trained mountain troops to the region after Chinese soldiers encroached on sovereign territory of their own country, according to India’s Defense Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to India’s government, “China’s aggression will be met with all available means.” China is particularly offended by the continued construction of transport and road infrastructure in the Daulat Beg Oldie sector by the Indians not far from the Sino-Indian border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is because these activities are perceived as a threat to the existing highway between Lhasa and Kashgar. This highway runs from Tibet to the southwestern province of Sinkiang, from where the so-called Karakoram Highway – the northern part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor – runs from Kashgar to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad for direct access to the strategically important port of Gwadar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The troops sent to the region by India are familiar with the conditions in the autonomous region of Tibet, according to India’s army leadership. Two brigades of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army are said to be already stationed in the disputed region, which suggests that Beijing has recently strengthened its troops in the border region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Indian government accuses China of having crossed the line of control currently running in the region with its own army units – and thus of having penetrated Indian territory. These Chinese troops are said to be intent on disrupting the construction of road and transport infrastructure on the Indian side of the common border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n