A Study Of The Relationship Between India And Australia After The Cold War

The relationship between India,a major country in the Indian Ocean region and Australia,which has always claimed itself as a "Middle Power",is very important to the security and stability of the Indian Ocean region with the increasing strategic competitive position of the Indian Ocean region,especially in the current clamor of the "Indo-Pacific".In this world,the bilateral relationship between India and Australia is a relatively loose part of the bilateral relations between the four countries,and the development of their relationship is particularly noticeable.During the Cold War,the two camps of the United States and the Soviet Union fought fiercely and India and Australia adopted different approaches.Australia chose to pursue the United States while India began to adopt a non-alignment policy and draw its ties with the Soviet Union.The inconsistency between India and Australia's strategic views hindered the development of any closer strategic relationship at that time.The development of India-Australia bilateral relations have also been freed from the constraints of the bipolar pattern at the end of the cold war.India began to adjust its foreign strategy,give priority to the development of the domestic economy and take the East-West diplomacy at the equality level on the international stage.Australia begun to give a place for the overseas market.The two countries have found a point of mutual benefit firstly.India-Australia bilateral relations have shown an overall upward trend under the activity of Australia.Both sides have made good progress in the political,economic,and defense fields.However,the development of relations between the two countries has not been smooth,and the uranium issue surrounding the two countries was still affected by the nuclear test in India in 1998 and the announcement by the Australian Labor Party Government in 2008 that the uranium ban policy will continue to be imposed on India.In general,there are still lots of progressive space for development in India-Australia relations but there are also many problems that must be solved between the two countries.For example,the differences in strategic culture and unequal strategic capabilities of the two countries may affect the bilateral relations between India and Australia in the future.This article summarizes the evolution of India-Australia relations before and after the Cold War in stages,and analyzes the factors that affect India-Australia relations after the Cold War froma historical perspective.After analyzing the characteristics of the relationship development i will give some thinking at last.Therefore,this article includes the following four parts:Part 1: After briefly reviewing the development of India-Australia relations during the Cold War,pointing out that under the influence of the Cold War environment and the foreign policies pursued by India and Australia,we will come to a conclusion that the relations between the two countries were relatively cold during this period,and neither side had the willingness to actively approach.Part 2: As the focus of describing the India-Australia relationship,this section uses the Indian nuclear test in 1998 as the critical point to divide the development of the post-Cold War India-Australia relationship into two parts: the contact period and the deepening period and study the relationship under politics economics security and other fields.It is concluded that the relationship between India and Australia has achieved unprecedented development.Although the issue of uranium trade is still pouring cold water on the rising relationship between India and Australia from time to time,the relationship between India and Australia has made leaps and bounds compared with the end of the 20 th century.The changes due to the regional security environment in the new century and coincidence of the strategic points of India and Australia.Part 3: The premise of the development of India Australia relations is the improvement of us India relations and the strategic pressure of China's rise.At the same time,India and Australia have strong economic complementary.They have common security interests in the Indian Ocean region and need to help each other in international multilateral institutions.All these promote the new progress of India Australia relations after the cold war.At the basis of the new development of India Australia relations,this part summarizes the characteristics of the development of India Australia relations and discuss the problems existing between India Australia relations.Part 4: The difference between India and Australia in their strategic culture and strategic capabilities may also prevent the further development of India-Australia relations in the future.For Australia,in-depth cooperation with India faces the dilemma of insufficient strategic capabilities.For India,with the U.S.-India relations getting closer India may play down its relations with Australia.Therefore,the relationship between India and Australia still has a long way to go.However this also implies that there is still huge room for cooperation between India and Australia,and it has broad prospects for cooperation on issues such as climate change,counter-terrorism,energy cooperation and ocean security.Finally,for China,it is necessary to be alert to the impact of the entire "Indo-Pacific" strategy on the relationship between India and Australia.The strengthening of the relationship between India and Australia,especially in the area of security and defense,deserves constant attention.China needs to actively participate in the cooperation between India and Australia to offset the fears and doubts of India and Australia about China's rise.At the same time,we must increase cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region,such as strengthening cooperation with ASEAN countries.As a matter of fact,ASEAN countries are also concerned about the proximity of India and Australia and the India-Pacific strategy of the four countries "US,Japan,India and Australia".For China and ASEAN,which are also affected by the "Indo-Pacific" strategy,the two parts can strengthen their cooperation to cope with the adverse effects of the four countries' security cooperation.