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Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson transits the Pacific Ocean on June 13. Photo: US Navy

As US launches huge Indo-Pacific drill, what’s the message to China?

  • US Indo-Pacific Command exercise with Britain, Australia and Japan coincides with Chinese military training drills in parts of the South China Sea
  • While some see a clear signal to adversaries including China on the US’ regional vigilance, a Chinese analyst is confident no bottom lines will be crossed
The US has launched a large-scale, all-domain military exercise in the Indo-Pacific region with Britain, Australia and Japan – the first of its kind in more than four decades amid growing tensions with China.

The US Indo-Pacific Command exercise, which began on Monday and will run until August 27, involves the first large-scale naval and amphibious drills since America’s Ocean Venture exercises in 1981 with allies including the Nato nations during a new height in the Cold War.

It will signal to competitors that the American military “remains ready at the high end of warfare expressly because of its global operational commitments”, according to the US Navy.

The exercise coincides with Chinese military training drills in parts of the South China Sea from August 6 to August 10, as announced by the China Maritime Safety Administration on August 4. Safeguarding the freedom of navigation in these contested waters lies at the core of Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy.

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The Indo-Pacific Command exercise will incorporate forces from the US Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, alongside the British Armed Forces, the Australian Defence Force and Japan Self-Defence Force, a command statement said.

Around 36 naval vessels, from aircraft carriers to submarines, and more than 50 virtual units are to take part in the drills, which will include field training, amphibious landings, airborne and ground manoeuvres, air operations and maritime operations.

Analysts say the large-scale exercises signal support to US allies in the region as well as a show of strength to China, as tensions flare over issues such as trade, technology, cyberattacks, the Covid-19 pandemic and human rights.

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China’s PLA conducts air force drills after US warships sail in contested South China Sea

China’s PLA conducts air force drills after US warships sail in contested South China Sea
There are also growing concerns that the contested South China Sea will emerge as a flashpoint between the major powers, as US President Joe Biden’s administration has continued to push back on Chinese influence in the region and Beijing has adopted a more aggressive posture in asserting its claims to most of the waters.

India also announced on Monday that it would send warships into the South China Sea soon for a two-month deployment, including for exercises with Quad co-members the US, Japan and Australia.

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The exercises sent out a “very obvious signal” on US regional readiness and capacity, as well as US commitment to its allies and partners to do more to promote regional security and stability, said Brad Glosserman, visiting professor at the Centre for Rule-making Strategies at Tama University in Japan.

“They are [a signal to China], but also they are a signal to every other regional adversary that the US and its security partners remain vigilant and capable,” he said.

“No government wants a confrontation or a conflict. But one could erupt nevertheless – by either a miscalculation of US resolve and its commitment to the defence of its allies and regional security, or as the result of an accident. These exercises are intended to reduce the odds of the first.”

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China calls Japan ‘irresponsible’ over Tokyo’s ‘sense of crisis’ for Taiwan Strait tensions

China calls Japan ‘irresponsible’ over Tokyo’s ‘sense of crisis’ for Taiwan Strait tensions

But Zhou Chenming, a Beijing-based military analyst, said the US military had conducted many exercises in the Indo-Pacific as a part of Washington’s global display of power, and downplayed the possibility that the latest set would further ratchet up tensions in the region.

“In recent years, there is indeed a sense of them targeting China, but they will not go too far and will not deliberately seek to cross China’s bottom lines,” he said. “The US military presence in the Asia-Pacific recently is not sufficient, so they need to use these kinds of exercises to prove themselves.”

However, Remy Davison, a professor of politics and international relations at Monash University in Australia, also said that the exercises were sending a clear message to China, in particular given the Chinese navy’s assertiveness in the South China Sea and towards self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own.

PLA warplanes enter Taiwan air zone after US drills in South China Sea

“Through the scale of these exercises, the Biden administration wants to show both its allies in the Indo-Pacific and its competitors that the United States is not retreating or withdrawing from its commitments to Indo-Pacific security,” he said. “It is not in the interest of either Japan, Australia, the US or India to allow China to transform the South China Sea or East China Sea into ‘Chinese waters’, and this is why these countries have entered into strategic partnerships to push back against China’s military aggrandisement.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: US begins military drills amid tensions
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