Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

Image credits- You Tube/ Author Source- Eurasia Review Author- Robert Shines “Diamond of Democracies” was a term used to refer to a would-be alliance between the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India and their collective efforts to counter the rise of China. However, Japan has patiently and carefully formulated its own bloc for this very same purpose. Additionally, these plans were complemented by pre-Ukraine Crisis overtures toward Russia to resolve their Kuril Islands dispute. Former Colonies Awaken Echoing their mother country’s path to preeminence, both India and Australia are making strides in building formidable navies able to project power locally and deny access to potential enemies. India’s value to Japan is twofold. First, it is a huge Asian land power with a contemporary history of animosity with China, namely their 1962 border skirmish. It also serves to keep China’s attention divided in the event of a clash with Japan, much like China keeps India’s at

Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- United States Navy Source- The Diplomat Author Prashanth Parameswaran This week, India, Japan and Australia held their first ever high-level trilateral dialogue in New Delhi. The talks were attended by Indian foreign secretary S Jaishankar, Japanese vice foreign minister Akitaka Saiki and Australian secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Varghese. The trio reportedly discussed a range of issues at the dialogue. Maritime security was on the agenda, including freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and trilateral maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The countries also discussed the prospects for greater economic cooperation. Indian naval sources also said that a joint exercise between the three nations is a possibility further down the line and that preliminary talks have already taken place. Indian naval officials are currently in Perth for separate talks on their firs

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons Source- The National Interest Author- Yusuke Ishihara Under the banner of a new special relationship, we are currently witnessing a second evolution of Japan–Australia strategic relations. Looking back, the relationship’s evolution has had two distinct phases; the first phase of evolution started in 2007 which was marked by a deeper institutionalization of bilateral cooperation focusing on non-traditional security, culminating in the historic Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation in Tokyo. The non-traditional security cooperation between Australian Defense Force (ADF) and Japan’s Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) is best represented by the past record of the frequent humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) cooperation between ADF and JSDF units, to name a few, in responding to the 2010 flood disaster in Pakistan, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the 2013 mega-typhoon disaster in the Philippines. Building on those i

JS Hakuryu ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons/ United States Navy) Source- The Asean Military Defense Review Author- Maki Catama Australia will not hold an open tender to replace its ageing Collins-class submarines, government officials said on Tuesday, a decision that bolsters Japan's position as the likely builder of the new multibillion-dollar fleet. Reuters reported in September that Australia was leaning towards buying as many as 12 off-the-shelf stealth submarines from Japan despite domestic pressure to build them at home. Since then, several European defence contractors have said they would be price competitive with Japan and do the work in Australia in a bid to win a piece of the overall A$40 billion ($33.96 billion) submarine programme. But the Australian government did not have time for an open bidding process, said Treasurer Joe Hockey. "We need to make decisions now and we don't have time to go through a speculation process,"

Australia  and Japan have become partners in a “special relationship” that will see both countries join with the US in a powerful military alliance aimed at curbing China’s influence in the region. During an extraordinary day in the long Australia-Japan relationship, on the 8th of July in Canberra both Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe pledged to create a partnership for “peace, prosperity and the rule of law”. Fresh from reversing almost 70 years of pacifism embedded in his nation’s post-World War 2 constitution, Mr Abe placed Australia alongside the US at the forefront of Japan’s future defence strategy. He recently told a special joint sitting of Parliament that Australia and Japan would be “joining hands with the United States, an ally for both our nations”. “We want to make Japan a country that will work to build an international order that upholds the rule of law ... to make the vast seas from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian, and those skies,

Japanese Soryu Class submarine ( Image credits-Wikimedia commons/United States Navy) Japan and Australia agreed Wednesday to jointly develop stealth submarine technology, as Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe pushes his country toward a more assertive global military role. The submarine technology was a top item at talks among the nations’ foreign and defense ministers in Tokyo and was included in an agreement to step up cooperation in defense equipment and technology. Defense minister Itsunori Onodera told a joint news conference after the talks that the ministers agreed to begin the research next year. It will focus on technology that is applicable to any vessel including submarines, he said, but declined to give further details. “I have high expectations for successful results,” he said. Onodera said the research and possible technology transfer would not violate Japan’s pacifist constitution. Australian Defence Minister David Johnston, left, and Australian Foreign M