Australia rules out security agreement with U.S., Japan, India

SYDNEY, April 4 Kyodo

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has ruled out the possibility of a four-way security agreement being struck between Australia, Japan, the United States and India.

''It is not going to happen. There is not going to be some sort of quadripartite security alliance,'' Downer said in an interview with the Australian Financial Review newspaper, published Wednesday.

Japan and Australia signed off on a joint security agreement last month and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his support for including India in a four-way agreement with the United States.

But critics say such an agreement would almost certainly anger China, as Beijing has already expressed concern over the Japan-Australia pact.

Downer, who is currently visiting China, has been keen to reassure the Chinese in his public speeches that the Japan-Australia agreement was not aimed at its containment.

In the newspaper interview, he said he doubts that the United States would consider a quadripartite security alliance with Australia, Japan and India.

''I don't think the Americans are much in favor of that actually,'' he said. ''India isn't an ally of the United States in the way that Japan and Australia are. They have alliance relationships with the United States, India doesn't.''

Downer pointed out that India is one of the cofounders of the Non-Aligned Movement, a grouping of over 100 developing countries that have vowed to not formally align themselves with any major power blocs.

''India wouldn't want to put itself in a position of looking as though it were pursuing some sort of policy of containment (against China),'' he said.

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