Message to China: 33,000 US and Australian troops begin biggest ever joint military exercise
Head of US Pacific Command says exercise sends message to friends and ‘potential adversaries’
Australia and the United States began their biggest ever joint military exercises on Thursday, a show of force, largely at sea, aimed at sending a message both to allies and potential foes, including China.
The exercises involving 33,000 US and Australian troops on board battleships equipped with strike jets, comes as tension over China’s more assertive activity, particularly in the disputed South China Sea, has raised fears of confrontation.
“I’m pleased about that message it sends our friends, allies, partners and potential adversaries,” Harris said on board the USS Bonhomme Richard.
Relations between the United States and China have soured in recent months as the United States seeks to counter what it perceives as Chinese assertiveness in the Pacific, encapsulated by Beijing’s artificial island building in the South China Sea.
China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims on the waterway.