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Indo-Pacific allies reinforce power of partnership in face of PRC’s destabilizing behavior

FORUM Staff

A Chinese aircraft carrier group’s drills in the South China Sea and state-run media reports that the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN’s) newest carrier could soon be combat-ready renewed attention on China’s military expansion and antagonistic posturing in early April 2021.

Contrasting and countering the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) unilateral military activities in the region, which analysts and diplomats termed as destabilizing, were bilateral and multilateral exercises by Indo-Pacific allies and partners designed to safeguard freedom of navigation, uphold the rule of law and spotlight solidarity. Among them: Philippines-United States Exercise Balikatan 36, a two-week series of live-fire drills and simulated war games. The theme of the annual exercise is reflected in its name, which means “shoulder to shoulder” in Tagalog.

The joint drills “strengthen our capabilities in addressing traditional and non-traditional security challenges amidst the increasingly complex situation in the region,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement as Balikatan kicked off in mid-April, Reuters reported. Those challenges include the recent encroachment by roughly 200 Chinese maritime militia vessels into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone at Whitsun Reef in the eastern portions of the South China Sea, which drew widespread condemnation and a Philippine diplomatic protest.

The PLAN carrier drills come amid growing unease over the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) provocations in the sea’s disputed waters, particularly the looming threat of an assault on the democratic island of Taiwan, which the PRC claims as its territory. Additionally, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry announced that 25 PLA aircraft, including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers, entered the island’s air defense identification zone April 12. Taiwan dispatched combat aircraft and deployed missile systems to warn and monitor the PLA aircraft in what was the largest such incursion to date, according to Reuters.

Taiwan is bolstering its defenses against potential attack. In mid-April, it unveiled a new amphibious warfare ship armed with cannon, anti-aircraft missiles, and anti-aircraft and anti-missile guns, Reuters reported. The domestically built Yu Shan, named for the island’s tallest mountain, can also carry landing craft and helicopters. Taiwan officials also announced that the military would stage live-fire drills on the Dongsha Islands in late April and early May 2021 following reports that the PLA sent intelligence-gathering drones to the Taipei-controlled islands, the South China Morning Postnewspaper reported.

Indo-Pacific partners, including Japan and the U.S., have warned the PRC against taking any unilateral steps to change the status quo that would undermine regional stability. The two allies announced in late March 2021 that they were preparing for joint exercises focusing on a possible emergency near the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which the PRC claims as its territory, The Japan Times newspaper reported. Earlier that month, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and U.S. Armed Forces in Japan conducted a large-scale drill involving airborne brigades.

Other recent demonstrations of the potency of Indo-Pacific partnerships include an April 8 exercise in the Indian Ocean by vessels from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy. That same day, Royal Singapore Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps fighter jets conducted joint training near Singapore, according to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. A day later, aircraft and ships from the U.S. Navy’s USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and USS Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group conducted expeditionary strike force operations in the South China Sea in support of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.

Also in April, vessels from the French Navy, Indian Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Royal Australian Navy and U.S. Navy conducted integrated training focusing on combat readiness, maritime superiority and power projection as part of the annual Exercise La Perouse, pictured, in the Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, U.S. military planners have been emphasizing enhancements to joint force lethality, including the central role of the U.S. Department of Defense’s envisioned Joint All-Domain Command and Control network to connect sensors from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. Later in 2021, the U.S. Army will host the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and special operations for its Project Convergence war games, which will simulate the technological challenges of a great power war across the vast distances of the Western Pacific, according to an April 2021 article in the online magazine Breaking Defense.

Such initiatives are seen as a powerful reminder of the continued dominance of the U.S. and its Indo-Pacific allies and partners. For example, even with the eventual addition of its newest aircraft carrier, the Shandong, the PRC’s claims of naval-capacity superiority are misleading, analysts say.

“It should be noted that China’s fleet relies disproportionately on smaller classes of ships, like the frigate and corvette, which are widely considered not to be major surface combatants,” Benjamin Mainardi, a postgraduate student in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, wrote in an April 7 article in the online magazine The Diplomat. “Even still, the bulk of its numbers advantage comes from its coastal patrol ships which, while not insignificant, have limited capacity to project power beyond China’s near seas. Further, the United States maintains a massive carrier advantage.”

 

IMAGE CREDIT: PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS HEATH ZEIGLER/U.S. NAVY

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