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Japan, allies highlight naval power in South China Sea exercise

Radio Free Asia

A combined naval exercise led by Japan concluded in early October 2022 in the South China Sea with a display of allied solidarity amid increased regional tensions. The weeklong exercise by maritime forces of Canada, Japan and the United States followed another trilateral exercise, Noble Raven 22, that concluded in the Western Pacific Ocean a month earlier.

The joint drills, dubbed Noble Raven 22-2, included a Japanese submarine, only the second such participation by a Japanese submarine in South China Sea drills and the first since a bilateral exercise with the U.S. Navy in November 2021, signaling a potential deployment of the vessels in the region by Tokyo.

The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) growing assertiveness against other claimant states in the South China Sea and against Japan in the East China Sea presents a “grave concern for Japan,” the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore reported. Experts say the South China Sea is important to Japan’s maritime strategy, with Tokyo taking a multilateral approach to pushing back against Chinese territorial claims.
“We will continue to strengthen cooperation with allied and partner navies, contribute to peace and stability in the region and maintain maritime order to realize a Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) said.

Two JMSDF destroyers, the JS Izumo and JS Takanami, also participated in the drills, along with the U.S. Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins and fleet replenishment-oiler USNS Rappahannock, and the Royal Canadian Navy frigates HMCS Winnipeg and HMCS Vancouver. (Pictured: The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Izumo and the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins sail in formation during routine operations in the South China Sea in October 2022.)

The Canadian frigates have also been deployed as part of Operation Neon to monitor United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction program.

The HMCS Vancouver took part in the first phase of Noble Raven 22 from August 30 to September 7 in the waters from Guam to the South China Sea. It also transited the Taiwan Strait in mid-September with the USS Higgins.

The JS Izumo and JS Takanami are part of the JMSDF’s Indo-Pacific Deployment 2022, which runs from mid-June to late October.

During Noble Raven 22-2, the three navies conducted “maritime operations, anti-submarine warfare operations, air warfare operations, live-fire missile events, and advanced maneuvering scenarios,” according to the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet. The “seamless interoperability between all ships demonstrates the strength of our alliances,” Cmdr. Joseph McGettigan, commanding officer of the USS Higgins, said in a news release.

The JMSDF and U.S. Navy also joined the Republic of Korea Navy for an anti-submarine warfare exercise near South Korea and Japan in late September 2022. The U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan, and its strike group joined Japanese and South Korean destroyers in high-intensity exercises to “enhance our combined capabilities against enemy submarine threats,” according to a U.S. 7th Fleet statement.

In late August 2022, maritime forces from Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. sailed together in the weeklong Exercise Pacific Vanguard off Guam.

Japan Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets also held a bilateral exercise with U.S. Marine Corps fighters over the Sea of Japan in early October 2022, the same day North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan in a further violation of international sanctions.

IMAGE CREDIT: PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS DONAVAN K. PATUBO/U.S. NAVY

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