An American celebrates the 60th anniversary of Indian Independence at a parade in New York on Sunday. Picture by Mohammed Abdul Haq/On Assignment

New Delhi, Aug. 20: In the defence headquarters, they are calling it courting the kangaroo.

Indian and Australian military-to-military cooperation is set to boom after the US has practically hand-held the two countries and goaded them onto a strategic relationship along with Japan.

The military friendship takes an upward swing alongside offers by Australia to export uranium to India in the wake of the India-US civilian nuclear deal. Australia does not export uranium to non-NPT signatories.

Defence headquarters in Delhi is also going the extra mile to welcome the chief of the Australian Navy who has arrived for a five-day visit.

The participation by Australia and Japan alongside the US and an embedded Singaporean ship in war games to be hosted early next month have given rise to concerns in China of an emerging quadrilateral military grouping.

Although both India and Australia have said there is no military alliance in the works, Beijing had sought information from the participating nations on the war games.

The visit by the Royal Australian Navy chief, Vice-Admiral Russ E. Shalders, comes a month after Australian defence minister Brendan Nelson’s meetings in New Delhi.

The Australian Navy chief is currently in Delhi and will be given a tour of the eastern and western fleet headquarters in Visakhapatnam and Mumbai this week.

“There is a confluence of interests,” said a senior defence ministry official.

In between, the Vice-Chief of Army Staff and army chief-designate, Lt Gen. Deepak Kapoor, was in Australia. He was participating in a 19-nation Pacific Army Chiefs’ meet co-hosted by the Australian and US defence establishments.

Next month, Australia’s long-range escort frigate, the HMAS Adelaide, will be among 20 warships for Malabar-07-02 — the largest naval war games to be hosted in Indian waters off Visakhapatnam.

The Indian Navy has sent observers to the Australian Navy-hosted Exercise Kakadu. Seven nations participated in the drill for disaster management. Now, Australia has also invited the Indian Navy to sent representatives to Pacific Reach 2007, a multi-lateral war game that is held along with the US and Canada.

Free trade plan

The Australian government is working on a strategic plan to negotiate a free trade agreement and have increased security cooperation with the South Asian power.

A submission prepared by foreign minister Alexander Downer and endorsed by the cabinet has outlined the approach as “designed to elevate the India relationship to a core element in Australia’s international orientation, along with the US, Japan, China and Indonesia”, The Australian newspaper said.