While the diplomatic freeze with China appeared to have thawed on the sidelines of the G20 summit, during a meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Xi Jinping, China’s $20 billion in economic sanctions are still hard felt by Australian farmers.

New trading partnerships are vital to reduce our economic dependency on China. A stronger military partnership with India could also strengthen Australia’s security in the Indian Ocean.

Significantly, India did not object to the AUKUS nuclear submarines agreement because a stronger deterrence against China provides a shared benefit.

Military ties have strengthened between both countries, with India inviting Australia to host the Malabar naval exercises. Australia has, in turn, invited India into its Talisman Sabre drills later this year, involving more than 30,000 military personnel from 13 nations.

Peter Varghese, a former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, says the relationship between India and Australia is in “a sweet spot” after having long been a one-sided relationship.

Varghese, who is now chancellor of Queensland University, says that after many years of indifference, India is now serious about building the relationship.

Together, India and Australia potentially can help balance and constrain China when it acts against international democratic norms.

As Varghese explains, however, there have been several periods in India’s 75 post-independence years when its liberal democratic character has been sorely tested – most notably the period of the emergency under Indira Gandhi. Today there are again signs the liberal democratic character of India is under pressure.

Last month, India’s main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was sentenced to two years in jail for defaming Modi, whom Ghandi had likened to a thief in April 2019. The sentence was precisely the length necessary to ensure Gandhi’s disqualification from the lower house of parliament.

Signs that minorities fear for their freedoms and that incitements to communal violence are also met with silence. Those tensions have been evidenced in Australia with attacks on Hindu temples on our shores.

India has also remained neutral in its response to Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Varghese acknowledges these signs should not be lightly dismissed. “They are not the figments of the imagination of India’s enemies or the government’s political opponents. India’s many friends are also troubled by them,” he says.

Varghese is ultimately optimistic about India’s ability as a true democracy to be self-correcting.

While the benefits of a stronger alliance are clear, the Australian government must ensure it approaches engagement with another superpower with eyes wide open.