There is a LOT going on in the Indo-Pacific. Lines are being drawn and there’s zero margin of error

Leave a CommentThere is a LOT going on in the Indo-Pacific. Lines are being drawn and there’s zero margin of errorHostile nations, National Security

You may recall we wrote about the Chinese activities which commenced on April 10, here, when three Chinese warships sailed in waters surrounding Taiwan.

On April 18 as we reported here, the second aircraft carrier of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, the Shandong, was seen conducting intensive drills near Guam.

On April 20, the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) Anzac-class frigate, HMAS Anzac, commenced a regional presence deployment to Southeast Asia, to support Operation Argos, the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) commitment to the international effort to enforce United Nations Security Council sanctions on North Korea. Anzac will participate in the annual Five Power Defence Arrangements exercise, Bersama Shield, which enhances interoperability between Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Anzac will also participate in Exercise Lumbas, which aims to deepen interoperability between the Philippine Navy and RAN. Now in its 23rd iteration, Exercise Lumbas is one of the RAN’s longest-running continuous engagements in the region.

Today, saw the last day of the Balikatan 23 exercises in the Pacific which began on April 11, when a combined force of Filipino and American troops sank a decommissioned corvette of the Philippine Navy during a littoral live-fire drill in the waters off Zambales in Central Luzon on Wednesday.

The sinking in the coastal waters of the South China Sea of former corvette BRP Pangasinan was the first in the history of the U.S.-Philippines bilateral exercise and was one of the last events of the annual Balikatan series.

This was the first time the Philippines and US conducted such an activity together. 17,600 participants included 12,200 US troops and 5,400 Philippine soldiers, working on maritime security, amphibious operations, live-fire exercise, urban operations, aviation operations, counterterrorism, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

All this Indo-Pacific activity is beginning to attract attention. The thread on the tweet below is open to all people, even if you do not have a Twitter account and I encourage you to look at it.

And just yesterday