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Malabar naval exercise highlights importance of Free and Open Indo-Pacific

FORUM Staff

Malabar 2022, a military exercise showcasing navies from Australia, India, Japan and the United States, will commence November 8 off the coast of Yokosuka, Japan, just south of Tokyo. The event, which will run through November 18, strives to improve interoperability and promote familiarity among the participants.

The multilateral exercise will feature training in anti-submarine skills, rapid deployment, surveillance and force projection, led by the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, according to the Hindustan Times newspaper.
The Indian and U.S. militaries staged the first Malabar exercise off the coast of southwest India in 1992. Subsequent iterations grew to include now-permanent members Australia and Japan, and took place in locations such as the Philippine Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

Hosted by Japan, Malabar 2022 included militaries from the member nations of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, which routinely conduct training exercises to ensure a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Indian Navy, for example, staged a maritime exercise in the Andaman Sea off the Malay Peninsula in July 2022. India joined Pitch Black exercises hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force in August and September 2022, and all four Quad nations participated in the biennial RIMPAC 2022, the largest international maritime exercise, hosted by the U.S. from late June to early August 2022.

Australian, Indian, Japanese and U.S. maritime forces routinely operate together in the Indo-Pacific, “fostering a cooperative approach toward regional security and stability,” according to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
(Pictured: Maritime forces from Australia, India, Japan and the United States transit the Bay of Bengal during Malabar 2021.)

Growing concern about North Korea and the People’s Republic of China underpins the joint interests of the Quad nations. That includes an ongoing and sometimes deadly border standoff between Chinese and Indian troops; the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to interfere in Australia’s domestic affairs; the persistent presence of Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels in Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea; and North Korea’s nuclear provocations and refusal to give up its nuclear weapons.

Groupings of democratic nations in the region — both the Quad and the AUKUS association of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States — send a powerful signal to North Korea and the PRC, according to Michael Green, chief executive of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney in Australia. “I think the lesson of the Quad and AUKUS is that if the challenge to regional order and security increases, governments are willing to network alliances and work together more,” Green said, speaking during a panel discussion in October 2022 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies/Nikkei Symposium in Tokyo. “I think that’s an important dissuader [for] China because AUKUS and the Quad would not have been possible without Chinese coercions.” The friction in the region involves nations with some of the world’s largest militaries: The U.S. ranks No. 1 in military spending, the PRC No. 2, India No. 3, the U.K. No. 4, Japan No. 9 and Australia No. 12, the market data website Statista reported in April 2022. The lesson Beijing should take away, Green said: “The more you push us, the more we will move towards collective security.”

IMAGE CREDIT: PETTY OFFICER JUSTIN STACK/U.S. NAVY

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