Australia’s participation in Malabar Exercise still under discussion, says U.S. official

The inclusion of Australia in the Malabar Exercise - trilateral naval exercises between India, the U.S. and Japan – was still being discussed, a senior U.S. State Department official told reporters on a briefing call on Wednesday . The official’s remarks also included India-U.S. interactions at multilateral forums, Amnesty International India halting its activities and the India-China border standoff.

Regarding the October ministerial-level meeting of the “Quad”- India, Australia, the U.S. and Japan – the countries will discuss a comprehensive set of issues, but the actual agenda is going to be kept “close-hold” [ a security classification] among the countries, the official said, so there can be a more “frank and open” discussion of those issues.

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