India on Monday announced that Australia would join the upcoming Malabar naval exercise, which effectively means that all the four member countries of the Quadrilateral coalition (Quad), would participate in the mega drill next month-end, a move seen as a snub to China amid the ongoing border standoff in eastern Ladakh.

The exercise will bring together militaries of the Indo-Pacific nations — the US, Japan, India and Australia — in the Bay of Bengal in the backdrop of China’s aggressive military behaviour in the Indo-Pacific, South China Sea and along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

“As India seeks to increase cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain and in the light of increased defence cooperation with Australia, Malabar 2020 will see the participation of the Australian Navy,” said a statement from Indian defence ministry.

The participants of Exercise Malabar 2020 are engaging to enhance safety and security in the maritime domain. They collectively support free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remain committed to a rules-based international order, the statement added.

Sources in the defence ministry said India was expanding bilateral cooperation with Japan, the US and Australia in the Indo-Pacific region with an effort to contain China’s growing clout there.

The drill has been conducted off the coast of Guam in the Philippine Sea in 2018 and off the coast of Japan in 2019.