New US Indo-Pacific fleet ‘would be akin to grabbing China by the throat’, analyst says

US navy secretary has called for a new command to be formed ‘in the crossroads between the Indian and Pacific oceans’

But it could hurt Beijing’s growing interests in the region as it would cover key trade routes, according to military expert

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The US navy secretary said a fleet was needed “where it would be extremely relevant if, God forbid, we were to ever to get in any kind of a dust-up”. Photo: AFP/US Navy

Published: 6:00am, 21 Nov 2020Updated: 11:29pm, 21 Nov 2020

A proposed new US Navy fleet in the Indo-Pacific could pose a threat to China’s growing interests in the region as it would cover key trade routes, according to a military analyst.

US Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite made the call on Tuesday, saying he was looking to establish a new First Fleet “in the crossroads between the Indian and the Pacific oceans”, in an address to the Naval Submarine League’s annual symposium.

It came a day before the United States, India, Australia and Japan held the second phase of a naval drill in the Northern Arabian Sea, seen as part of a regional initiative to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

“We can’t just rely on the Seventh Fleet in Japan. We have to look to our other allies and partners like Singapore, like India, and actually put a numbered fleet where it would be extremely relevant if, God forbid, we were to ever to get in any kind of a dust-up,” Braithwaite was quoted as saying by military website USNI News.

Braithwaite, the US Navy’s top civilian leader, said he had not discussed the plan with new acting defence secretary Christopher Miller, but had done so with Mark Esper, the Pentagon chief who was fired by President Donald Trump last week.

Kenneth Braithwaite said he had not discussed the plan with the new acting defence secretary. Photo: Handout