Malabar 2018: India deals a blow to Australia and ‘the Quad’

• The shadow of China looms large in India’s decision to exclude Australia from an upcoming multilateral naval exercise

Canberra confirmed last Thursday that its navy would not be part of Malabar 2018, which will be held off Guam between June 7 and 15.

• Emanuele Scimia
• Asia Times

So this year’s Malabar drills will maintain a trilateral format, involving the naval forces of India, the United States and Japan.

This means the project of a Quadrilateral (Quad) alliance/dialogue among New Delhi, Washington, Tokyo and Canberra to face Beijing’s military expansion in the Indo-Pacific region will likely be…

Backed by the US and Japan, Australia has tried to rejoin the Malabar exercises under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, leader of a…

• Malabar 2018: India…