India on Monday announced that Australia will join the upcoming Malabar exercise which effectively means that all the four member countries of the ‘Quad’ or Quadrilateral coalition will be participating in the mega drill. The US and Japan are the other countries that participate in the annual exercise, which is likely to take place next month in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. India’s decision to heed to Australia’s request to be part of the mega naval drill comes in the midst of growing strain in ties with China over the border row in eastern Ladakh. China has been suspicious about the purpose of the Malabar exercise as it feels that the annual war game is an effort to contain its influence in the Indo-Pacific region.