Shared vision, common purpose propel responsible military partners

FORUM Staff

Transparency, trust, communication, and respect for global rules and norms are hallmarks of responsible military partners, defense leaders said during the recent Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) multinational exercise.

“I would say trust is a key part of it, but it’s the communication that is critical,” Royal Australian Navy Cmdr. David “Billy” Maddison, commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer HMAS Sydney, told FORUM. “And to achieve effective communication, you need to be with each other and talk a common language, which most navies do. And to actually have time to actually engage each other so you can approach problems.

“We’re privileged to be part of every RIMPAC that we’ve been invited to,” Maddison said. “This is Australia’s 28th year and we just really enjoy the opportunity to be involved with our partners and friends.”

With the belligerence of authoritarian regimes heightening tensions and undermining stability from Europe to the Indo-Pacific, Allies and Partners are emphasizing the importance of collaboration in upholding shared values. Those encompass respect for sovereignty and international law, freedom of the seas and skies, and the free flow of commerce, as well as accountability and a commitment to resolve disputes peacefully through dialogue rather than coercion or conflict.

Endeavors such as the United States-led RIMPAC underpin those principles. About 25,000 personnel from 29 nations, with assets including more than 40 ships and 150 aircraft, conducted drills in and around the Hawaiian Islands in July and August 2024 to bolster relationships and interoperability.

“We’re really focused on enduring maritime force capabilities to ensure peace and prosperity in the vital Indo-Pacific region,” U.S. Navy Vice Adm. John Wade, the exercise’s Combined Task Force commander, told reporters.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) was not invited to participate in the world’s largest international maritime exercise, however, because of its “reluctance to adhere to international rules or norms and standards,” Wade said.

Beijing’s increasing aggression across the region includes “building and militarizing more artificial islands in international waters, escalations in maritime disputes in the South China Sea — notably including physical violence targeted at a resupply mission by the Philippine Navy near the Second Thomas Shoal in June 2024 — and staggering gray-zone activities around Taiwan,” the European Values Center for Security Policy, a Czech Republic-based think tank, reported in July 2024.

By contrast, Allies and Partners continue to champion international norms such as freedom of navigation. In late July 2024, for example, the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Montreal transited the international waters of the Taiwan Strait, the Reuters news agency reported. The routine operation reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to a “free, open and inclusive” Indo-Pacific, Defence Minister Bill Blair said.

Like-minded nations also stress the importance of regular communication and safe and professional interactions among militaries to avoid potentially catastrophic misunderstandings or miscalculations, particularly in global trade routes such as the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea. Nations including Australia, Canada and the U.S. have documented scores of instances of coercive and dangerous behavior by Chinese People’s Liberation Army aviators and sailors.

The growing convergence among Allies and Partners is “propelled by both a shared vision and a shared sense of mutual obligation,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during the recent Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore.

“This new convergence is about coming together, not splitting apart,” Austin said. “It isn’t about imposing one country’s will. It’s about summoning our sense of common purpose. It isn’t about bullying or coercion. It’s about the free choices of sovereign states. And it’s about nations of goodwill uniting around the interests that we share and the values that we cherish.”