Discuss India's strategic positioning and challenges in its international relations.

Promises: QUAD, BIMSTEC, BRICS - cooperating in multilateral frameworks. Successful in getting yoga recognized in UN. Military exercises with countries to enhance interoperability by Malabar. Economic pacts agreement by India-Australia, India-UAE. AITEC presenting itself as a voice of developing countries. Challenges: Failure to realize the potential of tourism. China is taking away leverage in Buddhism. Inadequate military modernization & indigenization. Limited economic capacity. Difficulty in maintaining relations between divergent powers. Future to realize potential of diaspora.

Recently, India and Australia relations have gained new significance with signing of truly honest agreement and high level political exchanges. Converging interest between India and Australia: → Shared values of democracy, human rights → Vision of free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region → Wanted to have rules-based international order → Contain the aggression of China in Indian Ocean & Pacific region → People to people connection - Indian diaspora in Australia for education and livelihood Long-lasting trade relations: → Early harvest agreement signed between two countries → Negotiating for full-fledged free trade agreement → Access to natural resources like coal, uranium, lithium for India → Leverage Indian diaspora for FDI investments → Ease the movement of service personnel like IT professionals, yoga instructors, chefs → India can realize its vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat & major exporter.

Strategic collaboration: → Contain the aggression of China in South China Sea & Indian ocean → Cooperating in Quad for a rules-based order → Joint military exercises like Malabar for interoperability → Cooperation for maritime security (Piracy, drug trafficking) through intelligence sharing, domain awareness → Quad strategy to involve other regional countries like Indonesia, Singapore → Cooperation on renewable energy, disarmament resilience → Cooperation on countering terrorism → Cooperation on reform in UN Challenges: Imbalance jockeying relationship. Australia coverage with China. Divergence - Different perceptions of Indo-Pacific between AICVSC & ASEAN. China found leverage (dividing Historical mechanisms to further relationship with Australia.

Strategic collaboration: → Contain the aggression of China in South China Sea & Indian Ocean → Cooperating in Quad for a rules-based order → Joint military exercises like Malabar for interoperability → Cooperation for maritime security (Piracy, drug trafficking) through intelligence sharing, domain awareness → Quad strategy to involve other regional countries like Indonesia, Singapore → Cooperation on renewable energy, disarmament resilience → Cooperation on countering terrorism → Cooperation on reform in UN Challenges: Imbalance jockeying relationship. Australia coverage with China. Divergence - Different perceptions of Indo-Pacific between AICVSC & ASEAN. China found leverage [utilizing] historical mechanisms to further relationship with Australia.

— Nidhi Goyal · AIR 91