Indo-Pacific

President Joe Biden became confused at his final Australia-India-Japan-U.S. diplomatic press event, shouting, “Who’s next?!” at the crowd full of reporters and foreign officials before realizing that he was supposed to introduce the Indian prime minister.

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping paid a visit to Vietnam on Tuesday in an effort to counter growing U.S. influence in the region.

The trilateral summit between the United States, South Korea, and Japan at Camp David, Maryland, on Friday produced several joint statements reaffirming the commitment of the three free nations to stand for Taiwan’s freedom, denuclearize North Korea, keep the Indo-Pacific free, and support human rights.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said NZ would be welcome to engage in the landmark pact counterbalancing China’s rise in the Pacific.

Germany announced Monday it is sending sending elite troops to Australia as part of joint drills with some 30,000 service members from 12 other nations. The first-time deployment underlines Berlin’s increased focus on the Indo-Pacific as tensions with China build across the region.

Indonesia on Monday hosted the first day of the unusual “Komodo” joint naval exercise, in which ships from the rival American, Chinese, and Russian navies practice their responses to humanitarian disasters together. 

Chinese delegates to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Shanghai this weekend scoffed at the notion India’s military could challenge the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China, while Chinese state media portrayed a deadly Indian train crash as evidence that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is incompetent and untrustworthy.

The UK and Japan are set to sign a new China-bashing defensive pact aimed at securing the Indo-Pacific, reports on Thursday suggest.

China’s state-run Global Times had a field day on Wednesday, mocking President Joe Biden for canceling his trips to Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The White House on Tuesday canceled President Joe Biden’s planned trips to Papua New Guinea and Australia, which were to have taken place next week on his way home from the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

The German Navy will continue to build on past deployments into the Indo/Pacific during 2024, sending a frigate and a combat support ship to the troubled region.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Thursday introduced a bill called the Deterring Chinese Preemptive Strikes Act that would “direct the U.S. Department of Defense to harden U.S. facilities in the Indo-Pacific to help further deter a preemptive strike against U.S. forces and assets in the region by China ahead of an invasion of Taiwan.”

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio made a surprise visit to Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia flew two nuclear-capable strategic bombers over the Sea of Japan on Tuesday in an apparent gesture of disapproval.

The EU wants to step up its naval visits and possibly engage in joint military training exercises in the disputed South China Sea.

China publicly warned Australia on Wednesday against being an “enthusiastic bandwagoner of the U.S. strategy” in the contentious Indo-Pacific region after Foreign Minister Penny Wong concluded her visit to Beijing.

The DoD’s reported plan to replace permanently-based fighter jets with rotational ones in the Indo-Pacific will be perceived as “weakness.”

Australia announced Wednesday it will investigate “alarming reports” China has been hiring its retired air force fighter pilots alongside those from the UK to train Beijing’s military in combat skills.

China’s state-run Global Times did not think highly of the Biden administration’s latest National Security Strategy (NSS) document, hyperbolically claiming the entire world was immediately gripped by “a strong sense of unease and concern” because American national security will “come at the expense of the security of other countries.”

Germany and Japan conducted their first joint military drills Wednesday as Berlin forecast a continuous security commitment in the volatile region.

Germany announced Thursday it is sending troops and warships to the Indo-Pacific to boost its military presence in the increasingly disputed region. The move comes as Luftwaffe assets undertake advanced air-combat training in Australia as part of Exercise Pitch Black 2022.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and a delegation of five other U.S. lawmakers met with Singapore’s President Halimah Yacob, Prime Minister Lee Gsien Loong, and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday, the first stop on a tour of the Indo-Pacific region that could bring Pelosi to Taiwan.

Members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as the “Quad,” announced plans on Tuesday to launch a maritime initiative meant to combat illegal Chinese fishing in the Western Pacific Ocean, Kyodo News reported.

China is determined to match its aggressive military talk in South-East Asia with spending. A report by the Lowy Institute in Australia shows in 2021 it achieved just that as other reports indicate Beijing is looking to establish its first permanent military presence on the Atlantic Ocean in the tiny Central African country of Equatorial Guinea.

The role had been filled by army or airforce officers in the Afghan era, an admiral indicates where Britain thinks it will fight next.

France has pulled out of a planned defence summit with Britain amid an ongoing row between Paris, London, Canberra, and Washington D.C. over submarines.

The French government is seething over Australia’s decision to drop a troubled multi-billion French submarine deal in favour of collaboration with Britain and America, describing it as “treason”. 

France has reacted bitterly to the double blow of not only their contract with Australia for submarines having been cancelled, but Europe being “excluded” from the new defence pact between the UK, the USA, and Australia to counter communist Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, claiming it heightened the need for “European strategic autonomy” — i.e., an EU army.

A senior administration official defended the trip, promising that the vice president would continue to focus on the situation in Afghanistan

Canberra is offering the U.S. the chance to base more marines and warships in Australia, with Defence Minister Peter Dutton declaring Thursday he wants greater military cooperation with the country’s closest ally as China works to boost its presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Australia will invest $580 million to upgrade four of its northern military bases and expand “war gaming” exercises with the United States, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Wednesday. “Our focus is on pursuing peace, stability, and a free and

Japan announced this weekend it would provide India with $2 billion in loans and grants to fund infrastructure projects, including the improvement of a power supply system in the strategic Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal.

India seeks to arm allied countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) with various heavy weapons systems including missiles, radar, and tanks, the Indian defense ministry said on Thursday.

A 2018 strategy document from the National Security Council (NSC), declassified many years ahead of schedule Tuesday, outlined the Trump administration’s strategy for the Indo-Pacific region, including the U.S. strategic framework for containing Chinese ambitions in the region.

India’s government has requested nearly 130 medium caliber firearms from the U.S. military to bolster the Indian Navy’s forces amid a growing Indo-Pacific regional threat posed by China.

Japan will join France, and the United States in a series of land and sea drills for the first time in May next year, offering a counterweight to increased Chinese military activity in the Indo-Pacific region, the Sankei newspaper said on Sunday.

China’s state-run media made numerous demands of President-Elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, demanding changes to U.S. policy on the South China Sea, the Indo-Pacific region, and Taiwan.