![On October 13, the Indian navy's indigenous guided-missile frigate INS Sahyadri makes a port call at Busan Naval Base in South Korea, as part of its ongoing maritime deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. [Indian Embassy in Seoul/X]](/gc9/images/2025/10/28/52561-ins_sahyadri-370_237.webp)
By Zarak Khan |
India is busy reinforcing a network of strategic partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, mainly aimed at countering what regional powers describe as China's growing assertiveness.
The stepped-up military cooperation, including advanced naval drills, intelligence-sharing frameworks and logistics agreements, reflects shared determination among Indo-Pacific nations to block Beijing from becoming a dominant maritime power, analysts say.
The evolving alignment is most evident in two corridors: India's strategic partnership with Australia and its emerging naval cooperation with South Korea.
A preferred relationship with Australia
Cooperation between New Delhi and Canberra has grown beyond a traditional partnership into what both sides describe as a "preferred strategic relationship" in the Indo-Pacific.
![INS Kadmatt, India's indigenously built antisubmarine corvette, arrives September 25 in Cairns, Australia, for a short operational turnaround. [High Commission of India, Canberra/X]](/gc9/images/2025/10/28/52562-ins_kadmatt-370_237.webp)
On October 9, during the visit of Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to Australia, the first such visit since 2013, the two sides signed three key agreements: establishing an information-sharing framework for classified military intelligence, providing mutual submarine search and rescue support, and formalizing joint staff talks to facilitate operational coordination.
The visit took place amid intensifying strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, say analysts.
"China's expanding naval presence, new contestation in grey zones, and a surge of minilateral initiatives such as the Quad are reshaping the landscape," said Premesha Saha, senior policy fellow at Asia Society Australia, in her October 9 analysis.
A joint statement issued by the defense ministers of both countries reaffirmed "the importance of enhancing cooperation with regional partners to help maintain a free, open, peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific."
The ministers reiterated "strong support for freedom of navigation and overflight, unimpeded trade in the region, and other lawful uses of the sea consistent with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)."
China rejected a 2016 arbitral court's ruling against its claims to more than 80% of the South China Sea.
Partnerships against China
India and other countries have formed various partnerships to counter China's undermining of freedom-of-navigation norms and of its neighbors' Exclusive Economic Zones.
For example, India and Australia are members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) grouping, which includes the United States and Japan, a counterbalance to China in the Indo-Pacific.
India in 2025 took part in Talisman Sabre for the first time. The biennial exercise, led by Australia and the United States, included more than 40,000 troops from 19 participating countries and two observer countries. It took place in Australia and Papua New Guinea this summer.
India also participated this year, as it regularly does, in the Malabar naval drills. India hosted the drills this year. All four Quad members were involved.
Closer ties with S. Korea
In China's own neighborhood, India is actively courting South Korea.
Their growing naval engagement signals another effort to contain Chinese ambitions.
On October 13, India and South Korea held their first-ever bilateral naval exercise offshore from Busan, South Korea.
Participating ships included the indigenous Indian stealth frigate INS Sahyadri.
"INS Sahyadri's ongoing operational deployment to the South China Sea and Indo-Pacific underscores India's stature as a responsible maritime stakeholder and Preferred Security Partner," said the Indian embassy in Seoul in an October 15 statement.
The embassy noted the "ever-increasing significance of the Indo-Pacific in the geopolitical seascape."
China's own fault
China bears responsibility for India's recent diplomatic and strategic engagements, say analysts.
By heightening tensions along the Sino-Indian border, Beijing has "provided the single most important push for that strategic embrace" of Australia, noted Shanthie Mariet D'Souza, a senior research fellow at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in her recent analysis.
India and China share a disputed border extending more than 3,400km.
D'Souza cited a history of bad blood between New Delhi and Beijing, including "the 2017 standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in the Doklam plateau in Bhutan, and the May 2020 clashes" along the Line of Actual Control in the Himalayas. Twenty Indian and five Chinese troops were killed in the May 2020 fighting.
Besides reaching out to potential allies, India has upgraded its missile program and improved border infrastructure.
Its recent success in test-firing a 2,000km-range Agni-Prime (Agni-P) missile from a rail-based launcher marks a significant step in this direction.