The French Navy frigate Vendémiaire prepares to come alongside the Kuru Wharf, HMAS Coonawarra, Darwin, Northern Territory, May 17, 2024.
The French Navy frigate Vendémiaire prepares to come alongside the Kuru Wharf, HMAS Coonawarra, Darwin, Northern Territory, May 17, 2024.Royal Australian Navy/POIS Leo Baumgartner

OPINION | In securing the Indian Ocean, Australia and France are stronger together

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Australia is already under a lot of expectation in the Pacific Ocean, as the United States reduces its aid program and China is busy exploring trenches there. So an expanded presence in the Indian Ocean, too, may seem a bit too much for Australia.

It gives no sign of thinking so, appointing former assistant minister for foreign affairs Tim Watts as a special envoy for Indian Ocean affairs in May and giving a patrol boat to the Maldives in June.

Australia could make its Indian Ocean tasks easier by deepening cooperation with France, with which it shares maritime boundaries in the southern Indian Ocean. A first, quick-win step could be for France to continue providing Australia greater access to bases and to maximise it, as mentioned in the Australia-France roadmap for bilateral cooperation.

Nowadays, more Australian diplomats are directed to the Pacific than to the Indian Ocean. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has an Office of the Pacific, which outranks the Indian Ocean and South Asia Maritime Branch.

In the Australia–France relationship, there is a focus on Pacific issues, because of common boundaries (with New Caledonia) and shared concerns about foreign malign influence.

Security concerns raised following Chinese and Russian activity

Despite this focus on the Pacific, the Indian Ocean region is highly relevant to Australian security.

Unauthorised immigrants have arrived in Australia via the Indian Ocean, as do illegal drugs. The ocean is subject to illegal fishing. Seven undersea cables land in Perth. Chinese research vessels and submarines navigate through the Indian Ocean, the Russian Pacific fleet visits Indian Ocean countries, and shadow fleets transport Russian oil through the waters.

Australia may also rely more on supply across the Indian Ocean in the case of a crisis in East Asia.

Canberra and Paris contribute in parallel to Indian Ocean Region security. Australia sends liaison officers to two of the regional information fusion centres, facilitates capability-building initiatives, and leads seminars on maritime domain awareness.

France patrols from its four Indian Ocean bases with ships including an oceanographic survey vessel. It also appoints liaison officers to information fusion centres and maritime centres in Seychelles and Sri Lanka. In May, President Emmanuel Macron visited four Indian Ocean islands and raised the idea of an Indian Ocean Academy.

While these initiatives are positive, Australia and France could enhance their operations through stronger coordination.

Starting points and future prospects for collaboration

Opportunities for collaboration already exist. In April, the French embassy in Australia co-organised a conference focused on challenges in the Indian Ocean region, in anticipation of June’s United Nations Oceans Conference in Nice.

The conference, held in Perth, could lead to more. A new regional centre for maritime studies, set up in Sri Lanka with French assistance, could help facilitate them. Meetings between the foreign ministers of Australia, India and France could also set the stage for cooperation.

The 2023 Australia-France roadmap includes a defence and security pillar. Defined as a living document, the roadmap paves the way for further initiatives.

Other positive moves include the 2011 bilateral agreement on Heard Island and the McDonald Islands (next to France’s Kerguelen Archipelago) and the deployment of an Australian maritime patrol aircraft to Reunion Island in March 2024. As well as this, a Reunion-based French Navy vessel frequently calls at Hobart on voyages to resupply French and Australian Antarctic bases.

Further activity can build on the Royal Australian Navy presence in Western Australia. Australia’s 2024 national defence strategy designated the Northeast Indian Ocean as one of three immediate regions to focus on.

Australia should consider operating farther west. France could contribute through: better information sharing; exercises; bilateral working groups through regional forums, such as the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium; jointly organised seminars on coast guard operations, like the annual one in French Polynesia; and chief of naval operations forums, as is done in the South Pacific.

Another option would be to bring Australia into the project called enhancing security cooperation in and with Asia, which includes maritime security. India, Japan, South Korea and four Southeast Asian countries are already part of the project.

Article reprinted with permission from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's analysis and commentary site The Strategist.

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