Submarines, Patrol Planes: India, Australia Maritime Deal A Chilling Indo-Pacific Message For China

| Jun 02, 2026, 08:45:00 PM | TOI.in
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India and Australia just turned up the heat on China — and Beijing has already noticed. On June 1, 2026, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Australian Deputy PM Richard Marles held the second India-Australia Defence Ministers' Dialogue in New Delhi, agreeing to expand maritime domain awareness using patrol aircraft and to explore deeper undersea surveillance capabilities. They are building a Joint Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap, sharing intelligence and coordinating operations between their coast guards. This comes days after the Quad foreign ministers' summit in Delhi — attended by India, Australia, Japan and the US — launched a new Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration initiative. China's response was immediate and predictable: spokesperson Mao Ning accused the Quad of forming exclusive cliques and promoting bloc confrontation. But as Chinese submarines expand their Indian Ocean footprint and aggressive naval manoeuvres multiply across the South China Sea, the Quad is not backing down. It is building up.

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