'Building Deterrence': PNG To Host Part Of Australia's Largest Military Exercise
For the first time, Papua New Guinea will host a training activity as part of Australia's largest military exercise, which one Pacific defence expert says is about "building strategic deterrence" in the region.
Exercise Talisman Sabre, which began its eleventh iteration on 13 July, has over 30,000 personnel from 19 countries taking part, including Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga.
The war-fighting exercise involves live-fire drills, air combat and maritime operations, including amphibious landings.
Massey University's associate professor in defence and security studies Anna Powles told Pacific Waves that the exercise is taking place during a period of "really unprecedented geopolitical tensions in the Indo-Pacific".
"There is a very strong sense amongst a number of those countries participating, particularly Australia and the United States and others, that the Indo-Pacific may well become the location for conflict in the near future," she said.
"These types of exercises, including those smaller Pacific militaries in the exercise, is all about building strategic deterrence across the region."
On Saturday, the Financial Times reported that US defence official Elbridge Colby asked for clarification from Australia and Japan about what role they would play if the US and China went to war over Taiwan.
Australia's Acting Defence Minister Pat Conroy told the ABC that he would not "engage in hypotheticals" or "disclose confidential discussions".
Powles said Exercise Talisman Sabre was also significant for the Pacific because of Papua New Guinea hosting part of the event.
She said it is becoming increasingly common to include the defence forces of Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Fiji in such bilateral combined training activities, noting they also participate in New Zealand's Exercise Southern Katipo.
"What we are seeing increasingly now is a growing sense of wanting to include, like-minded defence partners in these exercises, such as exercise Talisman Sabre, because it is part of growing capabilities and interoperability with Pacific countries."
She said relationships between the Pacific Island defence forces and those of Australia and New Zealand have been longstanding.
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