Talisman Sabre Boasts US’ Military Strength to China

China has been falsely making illegitimate maritime claims, threatening and misrepresenting the operations conducted by the US maritime. Thus, Talisman Sabre — a military exercise of massive scale — kicked off in Australia, boasting of US’ military strength in the region and ties to allies within the area.

The multinational military exercise was headed by the US and Australian forces, on Wednesday. However, it wasn’t only attended by the US and Australian forces, but also the forces from Canada, Japan, UK, Republic of Korea, and New Zealand. The present time is hard, especially for the US-China relations, which brought to the scene more than 17,000 troops through the exercise.

Experts from the defense sector also saw the Sabre exercise event as a chance for the US to send a strong message to its arch-rival China not only about the strength possessed by the United States’ military, but also its significant tie-ups within the area.

The Indo-Pacific area had been witnessing activity from the Chinese military lately. One of the recent ones was witnessed on July 13, right after State Secretary Antony Blinken stated that the US would follow Trump-era rejection of almost all of China’s maritime claims concerning the South China Sea region. He also issued a warning to the latter’s leaders stating that any attack on the Philippines would be considered a provocation of US response, as per a mutual defense treaty signed between the two.

In the July 13 activity, a US Navy destroyer Benfold carried out freedom of navigation transit around the Paracel Islands — a territory claimed by China.

The Navy claimed, “the latest in a long string of [People’s Republic of China] actions to misrepresent lawful U.S. maritime operations and assert its excessive and illegitimate maritime claims.”

With such circumstances forming the background, Talisman Sabre will be conducting terrestrial ground force maneuvers, landings, air combat, urban operations and maritime operations.

The last time such an exercise took place, American marines along with Australian soldiers and Japanese then-new amphibious force conducted a mock beach raid. This gave a peak into how the three nations would unite in defending the contested Pacific islands.

The exercise is currently ongoing and is set to run until the mid of August. However, the activists are said to escalate from 18 to 31 July, as per the defense department of Australia.