The "Malabar 2020" US-Japan-India-Australia four-nation joint military exercise has been clamored by the Indian media as a concrete manifestation of India's important position in the international community. Due to the special time of the exercise, it is at the time when the Indian side plans to start a two-line battle, it has attracted much attention.
It is reported that the "Malabar 2020" four-nation joint military exercise began in early November and will be divided into two stages. The first stage is to be held online, and the second stage is to send warships from various countries to conduct physical exercises in the Indian Ocean. However, as the exercise drew to a close, it suddenly ended, and there was no news, which seemed a bit unusual. Especially in India, not only did the arrogance before the start of the exercise disappeared, but it also fell silent. Nowadays, even the media has revealed that quite unpleasant voices have been heard from within the four countries, and I am afraid that they will "spatter" before they even start.
According to Xinhuanet, the military exercise was carried out under the background of out-of-control domestic epidemic management in the United States, India and other countries. Therefore, not only the scale of the exercise was greatly reduced, but there was no interaction between soldiers and officers from all sides. In particular, India, as the host country, directly banned the warships of the United States, Japan and Australia from entering Indian territorial waters directly on the grounds of epidemic prevention and control. Such an alternative "hospitality" naturally affected the mood of the officers and soldiers of the US, Japan and Australia participating in the exercise. On the contrary, the Indian side was very excited to "under the guise of military exercises" to show off its power in the region, show off and put pressure on neighboring countries, and earn enough attention.
In fact, the dissatisfaction of the three countries of the United States, Japan and Australia does not stop there. It is reported that in a group of exercise photos released by the Indian media, India's only "Vikramatia" aircraft carrier is even larger than the US "Nimitz" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. You know, "Nimitz" is a super aircraft carrier with a full load displacement of more than 100,000 tons. In contrast, the "Vikramatia" with a full load displacement of only 45,000 tons should be a lot smaller. Today, the Indian media put "Vikramatia" in their reports.
In response, the Associated Press, which took the lead in the attack, put the "Nimitz" at the center in a specially released picture, allowing India, Japan and Australia, including the Indian "Vikramatia" The ships of the Three Kingdoms gathered around to show the glorious image of "the United States is the big brother" in the hearts of the US media.
In addition, the Australian media also speaks volumes about India. It turns out that as early as 2018, Australia tried to rejoin the "Malabar" exercise. However, India looks down on Australia and does not think Australia will make any contribution to the security issue in the Indian Ocean region, so it sternly rejected Australia's request. This year, Australia has frequently made enemies, and repeated improper remarks in the international community have frequently caused sanctions and severely threatened its international reputation. It is urgently needed to breathe out through military exercises involving the United States. Therefore, it has been difficult to join this year. The "Malabar" military exercise has high hopes. However, the Australian media have not forgotten how they were treated differently in 2018. They frequently turned over the "old accounts" and "in good faith" reminded the Australian military to be careful of being infected by India's severe new crown epidemic during the exercise.
Looking at it this way, the relationship between the United States, Japan, India and Australia is not stable. In the long run, this new combination may break up before it is established. It is worth noting that although the media of the four countries are quarreling with each other and look down upon each other, the exercise itself has not been greatly affected.
However, because India is a famous "universal brand" army, it does not match the other three countries on multiple equipment issues including communication systems, so it has to send American early warning aircraft and patrol aircraft to communicate with the other three countries. The exercise was completed with difficulty and without danger. Obviously, this is also an important issue facing the Indian army. Even with the help of the United States, Japan and Australia, the inability to communicate normally will also affect the performance of the four-nation joint operations in actual combat. In the end, India may still have to face a powerful opponent alone.
