Rumors Of War: Pacific Allies Are Training to Fight China

In the Hills of Australia, Pacific Allies Are Training to Fight China

Mike Cherney

In the rugged hills outside this coastal city, Japanese and Australian artillery crews fired in tandem on a distant target. They were assisted by U.S. Marines, who were embedded with the Australian gun teams.

The live-fire drill was the culmination of Southern Jackaroo, an expanding annual exercise in the Australian bush in which the three nations’ forces practice working together as allies.

Although top officers didn’t call out any foe by name, troops taking part said it was clear that they were training to fight China.

As Beijing’s military steadily expands its forays in the Pacific, U.S. allies in the region are realizing they could easily be drawn into a conflict with China. They are responding by bolstering their forces and increasing joint drills to ensure they can work together seamlessly.

A primary goal of the combined displays of force is to complicate Beijing’s planning and convince the Chinese leadership that it would be too risky to use military force to assert territorial claims.

Australia and Japan, both of which have security pacts with the U.S., have emerged as essential U.S. partners in the Pacific. If a war were to erupt, Washington would want Tokyo to sign off on the U.S. using its Japanese bases to confront China and for Australia to send aircraft, ships and troops to Japan to help the fight, some defense analysts say.

“If there’s any argument to be made for a collective approach to deterrence in the region, it’s these three countries,” said Jeffrey Hornung, the Japan lead at Rand, a think tank.

On Friday, the U.S., Japan and Australia further bolstered their cooperation with a new naval logistics agreement that covers activities such as refueling and reloading missile systems, which could be vital to improving their defenses.

Australia is also gearing up to host the three-week Talisman Sabre exercise opening Sunday. The exercise will involve 19 nations, including the U.S. and Japan, and more than 30,000 personnel.

Multinational maneuvers are the new normal as the U.S. and its allies prepare for a possible confrontation with China over Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island that Beijing claims as its territory.

China has spent years building up its military—it now has the world’s largest navy—and is using that extra heft to expand its influence, including in areas beyond the “first island chain,” which includes Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.

China sent an aircraft carrier group to waters east of Iwo Jima, a remote Japanese island, for the first time in June, prompting alerts from Tokyo. In another foray this year, China conducted naval drills near Australia.

At the same time, Beijing has continued to send its armed forces into the waters and airspace around Taiwan. It has expanded its operations in the disputed South China Sea near the Philippines and is increasing its activities in the Yellow Sea, a strategic area between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula.

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