There’s a major show of military force happening in the Indo-Pacific as the United States and its allies send a clear message to China: don’t test us, especially when it comes to Taiwan.
Australia is hosting its largest-ever military drill, Talisman Sabre, involving 35,000 troops from 19 countries.
“We’re doing this to prepare for deterrence, to prepare for peace, as well as to prepare for operating with our other teammates, our allies in a multi-nation operation slash exercise,” Bill Dunn, president of Strategic Resilience Group, told CBN News.
In addition to a show of force, it’s meant to strengthen how U.S. and allied forces work together, side by side, in complex air and amphibious missions.
“When our adversaries see how easily we bring together all these nations, this many folks, and we operate in an extended exercise, they should see that we could quickly transmit that into combat if necessary,” Dunn said.
The goal: send a clear message to Beijing that any move on Taiwan won’t go unanswered.
“It’s us saying to China, you’re not just fighting Taiwan, you’re not just fighting Taiwan and the United States, but you’re fighting Taiwan, the United States, Japan, Australia,” said Mark Montgomery, with the Washington, D.C.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “We have to send a strong signal that China you are a big country but you’re not going to be able to impose your will on Taiwan because the rest of us will counter you.”
And in a historic move, the U.S. Army fired its new Typhoon missile system in the Western Pacific, striking a sea target and showing China the region is well within reach of U.S. precision firepower.
“Deterrence is two things: It’s ‘I have the capability to stop you, and you understand that I am willing to do it,'” Montgomery explained to CBN News. “That willingness to do it, that credible level of deterrence comes from action, and that action is to be present.”
A presence Montgomery says China has spent decades trying to prevent.
“The Chinese have been spending aggressively over 30 years of constant investment and development in their forces with one aim: driving the United States out of the First and Second Island Chains,” said Montgomery.
The U.S. has countered with an enlarged military footprint: 55,000 troops in Japan, 28,000 in South Korea, 6,453 in Guam along with a new Marine base there and expanding access in the Philippines, where new airfields and ports allow rapid response and stealth F-35 deployments.
“What we are doing is trying to develop the Philippine ability to confront China in their air and maritime space,” Montgomery said.
All this comes as China pushes aggressive claims over nearly the entire South China Sea, including waters near the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
“The Chinese treat their neighbors as, you know, vassal supplicant states. You know, we’re a big country. You’re a small country. Be quiet,” said Montgomery.
From Australia to Guam and the Philippines, the U.S. and its allies are drawing the line with a powerful display of a united front.
As Talisman Sabre wraps up, Washington and its partners are hoping Beijing gets the message.
