Australia Trade Envoy Seeks Deal With India to ‘Tilt Away From China’

 

Former Australian PM Tony Abbot says India is the 'sensible substitute for belligerent Beijing'

by Dave DeCamp 

Posted onAugust 9, 2021CategoriesNewsTagsAustralia, China, India

Australian ties with China have rapidly deteriorated in recent years, and Canberra’s special trade envoy seeks a deal with India that he believes would signal the “democratic world’s tilt away from China.”

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot visited India last week as a special trade representative for Canberra. On Monday, an opinion piece written by Abbot was published in The Australian titled, “India the sensible substitute for belligerent Beijing.”

Abbot wrote: “A swift deal between India and Australia would be an important sign of the democratic world’s tilt away from China.” He described India and Australia as “like-minded democracies” and touted the increased military cooperation between the two countries under the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known as the Quad, which also includes the US and Japan.

The UK’s new aircraft carrier that is deployed in Asia will soon join the Quad countries in annual Indian-led exercises known as the Malabar. Australia joined the Malabar exercises last year, marking the first time all four Quad countries held military drills together since 2007. India had previously been hesitant to allow Australia to participate over the fear of sending the wrong message to Beijing.

Abbot said the “answer to almost every question about China is India” and accused Beijing of exploiting “the West’s goodwill.” As prime minister, Abbot oversaw the signing of a free trade

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