New Delhi, June 6 -- Australia backs India's efforts to combat terrorism and the halting of military actions with Pakistan last month was "an act of Indian leadership", Australian deputy prime minister Richard Marles said on Wednesday, while outlining Canberra's plans to foster closer defence and security ties with New Delhi. In a conversation with HT, Marles, who is also defence minister, spoke about China's backing of Pakistan during recent clashes with India, saying both Delhi and Canberra feel China's massive military build-up has had "an impact on the strategic landscape of the Indo-Pacific", and expressed hope that an India-Australia comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) will be concluded soon. Edited excepts: India's place in Australia's worldview has grown dramatically under Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi's leadership. The bilateral relationship has gone to a greater level - we're doing more economically together and have never been more strategically aligned. This is reflected in our much greater security and defence relationship, which is not just in terms of how we engage in forums that we meet in, the way in which we speak, but actually at a practical level, we're doing more. [Something] as specific as maritime domain awareness, what we're doing with our Boeing P-8 surveillance aircraft that both countries use. When you're sharing that kind of information, you're only doing that with the closest of friends. This collaboration enormously enhances our ability to see the ocean for both India and Australia. We want to see a free and open Indian Ocean and work with India as the major player here. From Australia's perspective, 50% of our trade goes past the front door here. We've got a deep national interest in the rules of the road applying in the Indian Ocean, freedom of navigation, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, freedom of trade. The Maldives patrol boat gift builds on our Pacific Island programme experience. It presents an opportunity for us to cooperate with India in supporting smaller nations' maritime capabilities. There is a whole lot of ambition that we have. The world's complexity and our strategic alignment make closer cooperation increasingly attractive. There's more we can do in maritime domain awareness and expanding exercises - bilaterally and potentially with other countries. We see opportunities in intelligence-sharing. But the biggest area is maritime domain awareness and activity. Though there's two points [here]. We condemn the Pahalgam terrorist attack. Our sympathies are with the families who lost loved ones. We stand with India and all countries combating terrorism. We acknowledge and welcome the stoppage of military activity - we see that as an act of Indian leadership. We'll continue working with India to combat terrorism in all forms. Regarding China - our relationship is complex. It's our largest trading partner, but we have security concerns we've expressed to China directly. We're watching the world's biggest conventional military buildup since WWII, done without strategic reassurance. China's intent remains unclear, and this impacts the Indo-Pacific's strategic landscape. We feel that, India feels that....