Crowding the Pacific & Pressuring China
June 29, 2021
Ann Wright reports on the buildup of war practices in the region, including
Russia's training at the edge of U.S. territorial waters off Hawaii and
massive U.S.-Australian maneuvers underway through August.
In May, a U.S. Navy boatswain watches an F/A-18E Super Hornet launching from
the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt off Alaska as
part of series of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command exercises. (U.S. Navy, Eduardo
Torres)
By Ann Wright
Each week the Pacific is getting even more crowded with military ships,
submarines and aircraft from countries in the region and from outside. NATO
countries - United Kingdom, France, Germany and the Netherlands - are
sending military vessels and aircraft.
The Russian navy conducted military maneuvers off Hawai'i.
The U.S. is on the verge of creating a permanent Pacific naval task force as
a part of its aggressive response to China's naval presence in the Pacific.
The largest land exercise in Asia and the Pacific is taking place in
Australia with 17,000 U.S. and Australian military.
In March, President Joe Biden directed the Pentagon to establish a China
Task Force to examine China-related policies and processes and give its
recommendations to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The creation of a Pacific
Naval Task Force would allow the secretary of defense to provide more of the
Pentagon's budget for challenging China's presence in the Pacific. The
Pacific task force would also include NATO allies such as Britain and
France, that have already sent their warships into the Pacific, as well as
Japan and Australia.
At the recent NATO meeting in Brussels, most leaders agreed with Biden's
confrontational stance with China, declaring that Beijing is undermining
global order and is a security challenge. A similar NATO naval task force,
the Standing Naval Forces Atlantic, composed of six-to-10 ships,
destroyers, frigates and support vessels from multiple NATO nations, has
operated for decades in Atlantic waters.
NATO ministers in Brussels in March. (Estonian Foreign Ministry, Flickr, CC
BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)
Russian War Practice Near Hawaii
It's not only China that is causing the U.S. concerns in the Pacific. A U.S.
missile defense test was delayed at the missile test facility on the
Hawaiian island of Kauai in May due to the presence of a Russian
surveillance ship 13 miles off the island, at the edge of U.S. territorial
waters.
The Kareliya, a Russian Navy Vishnya-class auxiliary general intelligence,
or AGI, ship is based in the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok and is one
of seven AGIs specializing in signals intelligence. For several weeks it
sailed off the coast of Kauai, 100 miles from the massive U.S. naval
facility at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA), in cooperation with the U.S. Navy,
conducted on Kauai what it called Flight Test Aegis Weapon System 31 to
demonstrate the capability of a ballistic missile defense (BMD)-configured
Aegis ship to detect, track, engage and intercept a medium-range ballistic
missile target with a salvo of two Standard Missile-6 Dual II
(BMD-initialized) missiles.
To the chagrin of the MDA, with the Russian signals ship as a witness, the
May 29 missile test eventually was carried out with ship-fired missiles but
they failed to intercept a medium-range ballistic missile target.
The U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor made this statement at the time,
saying it was
"aware of the Russian vessel operating in international waters in the
vicinity of Hawai'i, and will continue to track it through the duration of
its time here. Through maritime patrol aircraft, surface ships and joint
capabilities, we can closely monitor all vessels in the Indo-Pacific area of
operations."
A few days later, U.S. Air Force F-22 jets made two sudden flights out of
Hawai'i with the Indo-Pacific Command eventually acknowledging that "several
Russian ships and aircraft" were 200 miles to the west of the Hawaiian
Islands and the F-22s had been sent out to keep watch on them.
The "several ships and aircraft" turned out to be the largest Russian naval
maneuvers in the Pacific since the end of the Cold War. As reported by the
Honolulu Star Advertiser on June 23, prior to the meeting of the Russian
President Vladimir Putin and President Joe Biden in Geneva on June 16, the
Russian Ministry of Defense publicized the Russian naval maneuvers off
Hawai'i as a naval and air exercise that practiced "destroying the aircraft
carrier strike group of the mock enemy" and delivering a simulated strike
with cruise missiles against "critically important" military infrastructure.
The Russian press release described the military exercise as two detachments
of ships, operating about 2,500 miles southeast of the Kuril Islands, that
detected, countered and delivered missile strikes against an aircraft
carrier strike group.
The missile strike practice was conducted by the flagship of the Pacific
Fleet, the missile cruiser Varyag, the frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov and
multiple corvettes. Twenty surface warships, including a submarine and
support vessels, were involved in the exercise with 20 aircraft, including
long-range antisubmarine aircraft Tu-142M3, anti-submarine aircraft Il-38,
high-altitude fighter-interceptors MiG31BM, deck anti-submarine and
search-and-rescue helicopters Ka-27.
Russian missile cruiser Varyag in 2016. (Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense
Ministry's Press Office/TASS)
The deployment of Russian "Bear" bombers as part of the exercise twice
resulted in missile-armed Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 fighters scrambling
to possibly intercept the turboprop planes - which headed in the direction
of Hawaii but never came close, according to U.S. officials. No U.S.
intercepts of the Russian aircraft were made.
The two long-range Tu-142MZ anti-submarine aircraft that provided support to
the exercise had flown from Kamchatka Peninsula, spending more than 14 hours
in the air and covering about 10,000 kilometers during the exercise,
according to the news report.
Rounding out the air component of the Russian exercise were six Il-38 and
Il-38N anti-submarine aircraft that searched for and tracked submarines of
the "mock enemy." The anti-submarine aircraft were escorted by MiG-31BM
high-altitude interceptor fighters of the Pacific Fleet with refueling
capability provided by II-78 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
An open-source satellite view of the Russian flotilla was taken on June 19
when it was 35 nautical miles (40 statute miles) south of Honolulu and was
being escorted by three U.S. Navy destroyers and a Coast Guard cutter.
A spokesman for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command at Camp H.M. Smith in Honolulu
said on June 21 that the Russian vessels operated in international waters
throughout the exercise and at the closest point, some Russian ships
operated approximately 20 to 30 nautical miles (23 to 34 statute miles) off
the coast of Hawaii and that they were tracked very closely by U.S. forces.
US & Russian Vessels Around Hawaii
Making for a crowded area around Hawai'i, the USS Carl Vinson aircraft
carrier strike group based in San Diego was operating off the east side of
the Hawaiian Islands at the same time the Russian fleet was off the west
side of the islands. The Carl Vinson, the flagship of the carrier strike
group, conducted exercises with Carrier Air Wing 2, Destroyer Squadron 1,
the guided-missile destroyers USS O'Kane, USS Howard, USS Chafee, USS Dewey
and USS Michael Murphy. The Chafee and Michael Murphy are based at Pearl
Harbor.
French Air Force Arrives
On Sunday, June 27, in their first visit to Hawai'i, the French government
sent 170 Air and Space Force personnel, three Rafale fighter aircraft, two
A330 Phenix refueling tankers and two A400M Atlas transports to Joint Base
Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu for training with Hawai'i-based U.S. F-22
fighters, C-17 cargo aircraft and KC-135 refuelers. The French squadron will
depart Hawai'i on July 5 for Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada for more
training with U.S. military units. U.S. Pacific Air Force command emailed
that "It is imperative that the U.S. accelerates change in synchronization
with allies like France to ensure we are ready for the next fight."
The British Are Coming Too
HMS Queen Elizabeth, left, with two escort vessels, off the coast of
Scotland in 2017.
(Ministry of Defence)
Besides the French military aircraft arriving in the Pacific, the new
British 65,000-ton aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and its carrier
group is heading for the Pacific in what is called the "most important
peacetime deployment in a generation" for the United Kingdom.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on April 26 that "even as the
Pacific's importance to our future economy continues to rise - so the
challenges to the freedom of navigation in that region continue to grow. Our
trade with Asia depends on the shipping that sails through a range of
Indo-Pacific choke points, yet they are increasingly at risk."
HMS Queen Elizabeth, the centerpiece of Britain's Royal Navy, departed the
U.K. in May for a world voyage including stops in 40 nations and steaming
through the South China Sea. Defense Minister Wallace said that while China
is "increasingly assertive, we are not going to the other side of the world
to be provocative. We will sail through the South China Sea. We will be
confident, but not confrontational."
Adding to the numbers of naval vessels in the crowded South China Sea will
be the nine escort vessels of HMS Queen Elizabeth: destroyers HMS Defender
and HMS Diamond, anti-submarine frigates HMS Kent and HMS Richmond, the
Royal Fleet Auxiliary's RFA Fort Victoria and RFA Tidespring, Dutch frigate
HNLMS Evertsen and U.S. Navy destroyer USS The Sullivans.
US & the 'International Rules-Based Order'
The State Department said the United States, which has maintained what it
calls the "international rules-based order" in the Pacific since the end of
World War II, is "committed to upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific in
which all nations, large and small, are secure in their sovereignty and able
to pursue economic growth consistent with international law and principles
of fair competition." In 2019, the U.S. Department of Defense wrote in its
strategy document that the Indo- Pacific region is the single most
consequential region for America's future.
Indo-Pacific biogeographic region. (Wikimedia Commons)
Admiral Phil Davidson said on April 30 when he relinquished leadership of
the massive U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, "Make no mistake, the Communist Party
of China seeks to supplant the idea of a free and open international order
with a new order - one with Chinese characteristics - where Chinese national
power is more important than international law."
Davidson added that strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific "is not
between two nations, it is a contest between liberty - the fundamental idea
behind a free and open Indo-Pacific - and authoritarianism, the absence of
liberty."
China Responds
On May 27, at a China Ministry of National Defense press conference, Senior
Colonel Tan Kefei said America keeps "stepping up military deployments in
the Asian Pacific region, frequently conducts close-in reconnaissance
against China, and even deliberately initiates dangerous circumstances
between Chinese and U.S. military aircraft and vessels."
He added that a strategy emphasizing military presence and military
competition "will only heighten regional tensions and undermine world peace
and stability. No strategy should instigate countries to establish
selective and exclusive military alliances, or to create a 'New Cold War' of
confrontational blocs." In relation to Taiwan, Tan said, "there is only one
China in the world, and Taiwan is an integral part of China," and that
currently China-Australia relations "face serious difficulties."
G7 & Quad Support Status Quo on Taiwan
The Group of Seven, or G7 -made up of leaders from Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and United States -said on June 13 that,
"We underscore the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan
Strait," adding that "we remain seriously concerned about the situation in
the East and South China Seas and strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to
change the status quo and increase tensions."
Three months earlier, on March 12, the first leaders' meeting of the
Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or "Quad" - the United States, Japan,
Australia and India - issued a statement saying they are:
"united in a shared vision for the free and open Indo-Pacific.We support the
rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of
disputes, democratic values and territorial integrity."
Largest Land-War Maneuvers in Region
The largest land war practice in the region, the U.S.-Australian war
maneuvers Talisman Sabre 2021 began in June in Australia. Scaled down from
30,000 due to Covid, over 17,000 military personnel from the U.S., Canada,
Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand and the U.K. will conduct war
maneuvers including combined Special Forces operations, parachute drops,
amphibious (marine) landings, land-force maneuvers, urban and air operations
and the coordinated firing of live ammunition from late June until
mid-August. France, India and Indonesia will participate as observer
nations. The U.S.-Australian hypersonic weapon, capable of flying at speeds
greater than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5), may be tested during
Talisman Sabre 2021 at the Australian rocket range near the town of Woomer,
South Australia.
In one month alone, this June, the U.S. IndoPacific Command military forces
participated in over 35 war maneuvers with other countries. Read more about
the war preparations with these countries