Exercise Malabar

IN NEWS:

• India plans to invite Australia to join the annual Malabar naval exercise, a move likely to irk China.

ABOUT THE EXERCISE:

• Exercise Malabar is a trilateral naval exercise involving the United States, Japan and India as permanent partners.
• Originally begun in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between India and the United States, Japan became a permanent partner in 2015.
• Past non-permanent participants are Australia and Singapore.
• Japan and the U.S. have been keen on Australia’s inclusion and have been pushing India to consider it.

PRELIMS QUESTION:

Q. Who among the following nations are permanent participants of Exercise Malabar:

1. USA
2. UK
3. Japan
4. Malaysia

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 1 and 3 only
3. 3 and 4 only
4. All of the above

Answer to Prelims question