Australia's partnership with India should be 'far easier' to build than that with China: Tony Abbott Read more at: //economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/72131917.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
The Economic Times Nov 19, 2019, 10.59 PM IST
A partnership between two
democracies like India and Australia should
be "far easier" to build than one between
Australia and a one-party communist state
like China, former Australian prime minister
Tony Abbott said.
He made the remarks on Monday while
speaking at an event organised here by the
India Foundation. The theme of the event
was 'Vision For Free & Open Indo-Pacific'.
"A partnership between two democracies
such as India and Australia should be far
easier to build than one between Australia and a one-party communist state like China,"
Abbott said.
"Perhaps this is why the relationship between Australia and India, until recently, has largely
been taken for granted; while that with China has been carefully cultivated by all
governments and assiduously fostered by all prime ministers since Bob Hawke," he added.
While still keeping up the China relationship, Abbott said, it was the relationship with India
that his government was so determined to accelerate.
"It's a real pity that there was no prime ministerial visit to India in 2015 that could have
sealed the free trade deal that Modi ji and I had pledged to complete within a year, but
perhaps this is something that prime ministers (Narendra) Modi and (Scott) Morrison might
return to in their discussions here in Delhi in February," he said.It would be the most obvious way to demonstrate our countries' commitment to each other,
he added.
"Of course, there's some apprehension that trade deals might put domestic industries or
wage rates at risk and there's extra hesitation about a China-led regional FTA, but there's
little doubt that Australian food exports and resource exports, and Australian educators
and trainers and engineers based here, rather than in Melbourne or Sydney, could be very
important as hundreds more millions of Indians transition from the third world to the middle
class," Abbott said.
In his address, the Australian leader dwelled further upon the Indo-Australian ties.
"Even now, though Australian officialdom seems unnecessarily cautious about the
potential of the Australia-India relationship, the otherwise excellent official report on
Australia's economic strategy with India to 2035 goes out of its way to stress that India,
quote, 'is not the next China'," he said.
"Why should Australian officials think that what one country of a billion people could
achieve under the dictatorship of the proletariat is impossible in another that has the
blessings of democracy, the rule of law and the English language?" he asked.
Speaking about the 'Quad', Abbott said, as prime minister, he was pleased to begin the
rehabilitation of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue by deepening security co-operation
with Japan, renewing the nuclear understanding between Australia and India, and
accelerating the security co-operation with India that had largely stalled.
"All my successors have built on this," he said.
The former Australian prime minister also asserted that since his first trip to India 38 years
ago, he has been "certain that India was a force for good and that engagement with India
would improve our region and our world".
"I'm keen to make fostering our relationship with India my personal mission in post parliamentary life," he said.
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